Finals

It's finals time here in the 'Dale, and that means some pretty intense studying going on all the time. While I should be studying today, I decided to bake instead; talk about procrastination. So, this morning, I decided to bake coffee cake for the girls in the house, and then I saw the Nilla Wafers. Nilla wafers always make me think of banana pudding. After finishing the coffee cake, I fixed banana pudding, which is now chilling, but it filled my morning. But that means that I have to study now.........boo........

Marbled Coffee Cake with Chocolate Fruit Filling

Banana Pudding

Mother's Day Tea

Here at the Kappa house, we celebrate Mother's Day a little bit early. Because we get out of school so early, we have to celebrate in April. So, part of my job as an officer is to plan this event for all of the girls in our chapter and their mothers. And must I say, I was so proud to see so many mothers come! We had proabaly about 27 or 28 mothers along with their daughters, as well as some grandmothers, sisters-in-law and few neices. Here's one of our lovely girls.

Since our tea was on a Sunday, we did a lot of the food preparation ourselves. I thought it was absolutely delicious! It so wonderful to prepare things yourself sometimes. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Mom's Day Tea Menu:

Finger sandwiches, scones with jams, fruit tray, cheese and crackers, lemon-raspberry cupcakes, assorted hot and cold teas

Cupcakes

So, here I am again at college, baking when I have the chance, and me, being the silly person that I am, gave up desserts and sweets for Lent. Poor me......

However, that does not stop me from baking! When inspiration hits, you must follow it. So, I followed my inspiration for what was on my tastebuds, even though I could not have it, and that turned into the wonderfulness of Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate cupcakes. Or, if you like shorter names, I blissfully renamed them Reese's Cupcakes.

I must apologize for the quality of the picture; I'm no photographer, so it's not as pretty as it could be. Plus, it was nighttime when I took the photo (bad choice for lighting)

I really did think that these were beautiful, dipped in a chocolate ganache for the icing. The only thing I would change about it would be the filling. It's a good consistency, but there wasn't enough. Instead of piping it into the cupcake, I think it'll be better next time to cut a small cone out of the top and spreading the filling into it. This might make dipping more difficult, but it'll give you more filling in each bite, which is what's important.

This is definitely a recipe to keep!

German Chocolate

I need to get a lot better about posting more often, but school gets busy along with the rest of life, and so it gets pushed to the back burner.

But, moving on, I've been able to bake some more this semester, especially since I have such a wonderful kitchen at my disposal. I haven't taken many pictures, but I did decided to take some pictures of the cake I baked this weekend, mostly because my mother asked me to.

So, I decided to bake a German Chocolate cake; this is actually my second attempt. My first was a complete flop because I misread the directions. It still tasted really good, but looked worse than this one. So I ended up making a trifle out of it, which is another post for the future.

So, some little words of wisdom I learned from the whole attempt: 1) always, always, ALWAYS read your recipe first, especially in regards to how many pans to use. 2) Sometimes preparing your pan in not enough. I prepared my cake pans with vegetable spray and flour, and they still wouldn't come out, which is why my cake looks so strange. Also put a circle of wax paper or parchment paper on the bottom as well. It's so much more helpful.

So, the moral of the story: always prepare pans, always read the recipe CORRECTLY. Of course, all of the girls in the house still loved the cake (I have to admit that it tasted pretty darn good), it's just not so pretty. :) Just a few things to keep in mind for next time.

P.S. Here's a cake that I baked last fall: a Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake

Busy, busy, busy...

Sorry that I haven't posted lately. It's been a very busy summer, mostly because my older sister is getting married at the end of the month. So, unfortunately I haven't really had much time to try out any new recipes or anything.
I'm probably going to put it off a little bit longer too because I would like to change a few things on my blog. So, hopefully you'll see some new and pretty changes.
Have a great August!

Peach Cobbler Murder

I love to read and one of my favorite types of novels are muder mysteries. As seen in an earlier post, I like Diane Mott Davidson, and I have recently found a similar writer. Her name is JoAnn Fluke and she also writes murder mysteries and her main character is involved in food. She has ten Hannah Swensen murder mysteries in print right now, and I have just read Peach Cobbler Murder.





I picked it up at the library right before I left to go on vacation with my family, and I have to say that I couldn't put it down! It was a really cute read and I enjoyed it very much. I'm hoping to get the first book to read, titled Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder. I hope you'll look her up and hopefully pick up one of her books. You can see all of them at www.murdershebaked.com

Summer Sandwich

I know that I haven't posted in a little while; sorry, it's been a busy summer so far. My older sister is getting married at the end of the summer, so that's been keeping our family busy, plus we just recently got back from a week long family reunion. It is, by far, one of my favorite weeks of the year, and part of the reason is lunch.
I know that seems like a really silly reason, but I'm pretty sure that lunch is one of my favorite things about the reunion. Since we've been going (this past year was number 17) my mother has always fixed pimento cheese, and I must admit, it is one of my favorite summer sandwiches. The only other sandwich that really competes during the summer would have to be the tomato sandwich with garlic cream cheese, but that's a previous post.
Anyways, pimento cheese is a Southern staple, not only as a favorite lunch, but it's also wonderful on a Stone Wheat cracker as an appetizer or you could serve it warm and melted on a piece of toast. And what helps to make it wonderful is that fact that it's so easy to fix.
This is my mother's recipe.

Pimento Cheese

White Sharp Cheddar Cheese ( I like to use Cracker Barrel cheese) 16 oz, grated
Chopped Pimentos, drained (canned) 8 oz
Garlic, freshly pressed- one clove
Sweet only, finely grated- one scant tablespoon
Mayonnaise (I like to use Duke's) as much as is needed

It's easiest to grate the cheese in a food processor. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl until well mixed. Give it time to chill so that the flavors can meld.

Enjoy your summer sandwich!