grapefruits, dolphins, and whales! oh my!

have you ever had one of those days when it seems like everything just keeps going wrong? i had a day like that yesterday. i should have taken a cue and just known that it was not my day...but no, i decided to give the pink grapefruit cookies a try. they were for this month's cookie carnival and i gotta say, when i first heard that they were the recipe chosen, i was kinda bummed. don't get me wrong, i love grapefruit...but i didn't really understand how that would translate into a cookie. and they were a lot of work! at least a lot more than i would have wanted to put in knowing that there was a pretty big chance i wasn't going to like them. plus, i didn't have a lot of the ingredients on hand so i had to spend money on that aaand i had to get a rolling pin. for a broke college student, that kinda sucks. to me, the recipe just seemed really random. so i decided to embrace the random and use the random cookie cutters my mom sent me and make them marine animal shaped!


so far so good right? well then i had to deal with the stupid dorm basement oven. so get this...recipe says 18 min at 350. i did 15 at 325 and this is how they turned out:


poo! so for the second one i decided to check them after 8 minutes (and i reduced the heat again to 300). and they still got a little burnt!


so i had to scrap what couldn't be used and make do with what was still edible.


sad, burnt tails. poor little sea creatures :[


not exactly what i had in mind. not too pleased. and for the taste? i'm not a fan. the initial flavor was just okay, but then the citrusy aftertaste was kind of nauseating. however, my roommates enjoyed them, which kinda surprised me. that's why i love them...they will eat my food even if it is ugly. i actually kinda liked the filling but that might just be because i barely had any grapefruit juice left over so there was really just a splash in there. i wouldn't make the cookies again but i saved the extra filling to try on some other type of baked good. maybe i can salvage something from this disaster. looking forward to find out what next month's recipe will be though :]

even though i didn't really care for this month's recipe, i'm really glad i gave it a shot. it's always nice to try new things every now and then. if you want to join the carnival, check out the clean plate club.

pink grapefruit cookies

[from martha stewart]

ingredients:
Grated zest of 1 Ruby Red grapefruit, plus 1/4 cup freshly squeezed juice
1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large egg yolks
Pink Grapefruit Cream Filling

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a small bowl, combine zest with 1 tablespoon sugar; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and remaining sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add egg yolks, and beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in reserved zest-sugar mixture. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the juice, and beat to combine.
3. Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out disk to 1/8 inch thick using a lightly floured rolling pin. Using a lightly floured 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place about 1 inch apart on prepared sheet. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes. Transfer parchment paper and cookies to rack to cool completely.

5. Using an offset spatula, spread 1 tablespoon filling onto flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping flat sides down. Once filled, cookies can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

pink grapefruit cream filling
[also from martha stewart]

ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Ruby Red grapefruit juice

directions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in honey. Add juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until filling holds together and is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and set aside until ready to use.

UPDATE: the roommates and i thought that the filling might go really well with chocolate. we had a floor meeting and our ra provided us with some chocolate cupcakes that we took back to our room with us and yes, the filling compliments the chocolate very well. or the other way around? i guess it depends on your chocolate-to-frosting ratio. either way...yumm :]

pretend like it's the weekend now...

i'm getting really good at making ugly pancakes. this morning i got up bright an early to make banana bread pancakes for my roommates and myself. the last time i attempted to make pancakes whilst in the dorms, they came out hideous. i kinda chalked it up to the mix i used, but now that my second attempt came out hideous and i'm the common denominator here...i think it's just me. i used to be able to make them normal looking [when i had the proper equipment in my house], but i can't seem to overcome the elements of dorm basement cooking. at least these ones tasted good though!

so i'm not including pictures for two reasons: (a) they were ugly, duh (b) my camera is broken. which leads me to amazing news...

i'm getting a new camera! sooo excited! i'm kinda putting off baking/cooking until it gets here...but i have a lot of stuff that will be going down once i finally get it. it's a casio ex s10 and it's BLUE :]



isn't it pretty? okay, i'm off to make lasagna at alex's.

calories don't count on your birthday

it's kira's 20th birthday! so i surprised her with coconut shortbread and a cupcake from sweet and sassy in the morning.


and it turned out amazing! best shortbread i've ever made hands down. nice and soft with an initial burst of butter flavor, followed by the sweetness of the coconut...everything just melts in your mouth. the only way i think you could improve these would be to toast the coconut to make that flavor come through stronger. just to show you how good these were, this is what they looked like a mere 7 hours later:


and theeeen i surprised her with a chocolate chip cookie cake [3 layers frosted with chocolate ganache]. kira, chelsea and i all really enjoyed it and i think this is going to be my new go to for birthdays :] chelsea even said that the first bite was "shocking....like omg this is good". now that's the reaction i was looking for. i really liked the thin layer of ganache on this because it added a creamyness to the otherwise chewy cookie.

i love birthdays. people should have them more often.

coconut shortbread
[from baking bites]

ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut (unsweetened is fine, too)

directions:
Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, or with aluminum foil.

In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of an electric mixer, blend flour, sugar and salt together. Mix in butter at low speed until dough is crumbly, but starting to come together. Stir in coconut and continue to mix until dough resembles wet sand; there should be large and fine clumps of dough in the mixing bowl.

Pour shortbread dough into prepared pan and press it firmly down into a single, even layer. Score shortbread lightly to make it easier to slice later

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until edges are golden and top is very lightly browned. Middle of shortbread will be set, but not firm.

Cool shortbread for 5 minutes, then use a sharp knife to cut the shortbread into 18 bars. Cool shortbread entirely in pan.

When cooled, remove shortbread from baking pan and store in an airtight container.

Makes 18 large shortbread fingers, or 24 smaller bars.

chocolate chip cookie birthday cake
[adapted from nestle toll house]

ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup chocolate chips [i used the semi-sweet and white chocolate swirled kind]

directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread a thick, even layer into whatever cake pan you are using.

Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets on wire racks for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Repeat for however many layers you like and use the rest of the batter to make regular cookies. Melt any remaining chips or chopped chocolate with a little heavy cream, then spread a thin layer over each cookie, stacking as you go.

impromptu cake

i'm officially on the roster for operation baking gals.

"Operation Baking GALS will be supporting our troops every month, once a month, and instead of our soldiers getting deodorant and soap, they'll be getting the one thing they can't get from the canteen - Homemade goodies made with LOVE. We will be assigning a different soldier to certain sub-groups of bakers each month so that we spread the love, and that way, a homesick troop will have a package with HIS name on it, filled with goodies to share. Now, doesn't that sound like something you could get into??"

i'm so excited! my soldier's name is zach and he is from ohio. he's only 19 so i can only imagine how homesick he is. i have no idea what i'm going to bake yet but i want to send him some comfort food. if you'd like to join operation baking gals, just email bakingGALS@gmail.com

in my previous post, i mentioned celebrating alex's friend's birthday. well, he didn't really tell me that it was andy's b-day till the night before, so i didn't have much time to make him a little present. however, i was able to pull together a little somethin somethin and made him a mini devil's food cake with chocolate buttercream frosting :]


because it was a personal-sized cake, i had batter left over..so i made cupcakes!


alex, who isn't a huge fan of sweets, let alone chocolate, actually ate like 3 of them. i got to taste one and while i liked the cake, the frosting wasn't extraordinary. i will definitely use a different one next time.

speaking of next time...tomorrow is kira's birthday!

apples and banaynays

wow...i'm really getting busy this year. between senior fellows, schoolwork and classes, swing, the boyfriend and friends...i've got a lot on my plate...so to speak. yesterday was nice though because i got to hang out with alex all day. we visited with some of his friends for a while [more on that later], went to the first football game of the year, and just hung out watching some hbo. and today we're going to milburn orchards to pick apples! last year alex took me there on a surprise date and we had a really great time. so much so that i actually decided to organize an off-campus program [sponsored by the senior fellows] to take people apple picking. i talked with the people who run it and they gave us a really great discount [5 pounds for $5] and because the honors program was so impressed with the discount, they are going to cover the transportation cost. we've already had a few people sign up so i have high hopes that we can get a lot of people out there.


but anyway. back to the baking stuff. what do you do when you let bananas get a little bit too ripe? make banana bread of course! i lovelovelove this recipe from whole foods not only because it's healthy and tastes amazing, but by just adding some milk [or soymilk, if that's your preference] to the batter, you can make pancakes! two of my favorite things in the world: bread and pancakes. if you check out the whole foods website, they have a video where they show how to make both.

light and luscious banana bread
[from whole foods]

ingredients:
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons ground flax meal
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup fat free or low fat plain yogurt
3 very ripe bananas, smashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8-inch x 4-inch metal loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside.

Whisk together both flours, baking soda, flax meal, 2 teaspoons of the ground cinnamon and salt; set aside.

Cream together butter with sugar using a mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in yogurt, bananas and vanilla. Fold in flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Spoon batter into loaf pan.

Stir together turbinado sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top of the banana bread. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly, then remove from baking pan.

Chef’s Tip: If using a glass baking pan, decrease cooking time by 5 to 10 minutes.

[for pancakes, add 1 1/2 cups milk]