De Baking Psychopath

These were "to die for," as one of my co-workers said. They were made for a going away potluck lunch/snack ensemble to go with one last coffee run with the person who was leaving.  The seven layers are: graham cracker crust, walnuts, semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, condensed milk, and coconut.  You basically sprinkle everything on sequentially and bake! The condensed milk oozes and bubbles and melds everything together beautifully. I sprinkled a bit of salt on top before baking for good measure, but that's not in the recipe. They're chewy, gooey, sweet, and addictive! You can find the recipe I used here .

This bread is probably the best of both the quick bread and yeast bread worlds: quick and easy to throw together, but with just long enough of a rise to develop a nice yeasty flavor and lightness in the bread. All in all, this loaf was fast, fragrant, tasty, and satisfying to make as well as eat. It is named after and billed to be similar to English muffins, with the craggly holes and crisp exterior. We definitely found that to be the case, and it was even sturdy enough to be used as sandwich bread, which I was worried it might not be suited for due to its tender and porous qualities. If you're worried about yeast breads, this is a good primer because there's no kneading or worrying about correct hydration/gluten development prior to the rise since the dough is more akin to a batter. Mix, pour into loaf pan, let rise, and bake! Try it for your next rainy Saturday afternoon baking project! Then cut a thick slice, toast it, spread it thickly with Nutella ...

Alright, a break from yeast! First I wanted to highlight a new function on my blog, the Printer-Friendly button down at the bottom of each post. Thanks to the folks at printfriendly.com , you can pick and choose what to print from any website or blog, change the font size, and even save as a pdf. I hope this makes my blog even more user-friendly for my dear readers! Awhile back I made a couple different gluten-free chocolate chip cookies that were both pretty tasty. I got these recipes from some blog browsing a long time ago, but never got around to trying them until recently. So if you have a gluten-sensitive friend or just want to cut a bit of carbs out of your diet, here are a couple of recipes for consideration. Nutty Oatmeal Cookies (Adapted from Cookies for Breakfast by Michael H. Perlman ) Ingredients :  8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar 3/4 cup sugar 1 large egg 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanil...

Last year, I asked Michael to pick up some pumpkin puree. He came back with pumpkin pie filling (already with sweetener and spices), which would be fine if I made pumpkin pie, but I generally use my pumpkin for non-pie recipes. Luckily, the company has some nice recipes on their website for alternate uses for the pie filling, such as this pumpkin quick bread. I used a cup of chopped apple as the "stir-ins" and sprinkled raw pumpkin seeds on top. The bread was moist and flavorful with a really nice crunchy top crust. You can find the recipe here .

I have put off trying Jim Lahey's no-knead bread for a long time, even though Mark Bittman's feature of his recipe that was published in the NYT back in 2006 can be rightfully credited for starting the food-blogger no-knead revolution these past few years. And even though I received Jim Lahey's baking cookbook, My Bread, as a birthday gift! Two main reasons for this delay: 1) I loved the flexibility of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day refrigeration method so I tried recipes from that book first, and 2) I pored over the introduction and recipes in Jim Lahey's book when I first received it...and to be honest, his writing voice rubbed me the wrong way. The tone of writing came across as arrogant and full of himself.  Something about his writing style, the way he presented his philosophy and life story--I can't identify the exact things that made me feel this way, but it made me procrastinate in trying the recipe out. Several weekends ago on...

Mayonnaise = eggs and oil and some random emulsifiers. Therefore, its basic components are not only normal components of any cake, but probably some of the emulsifiers help make this type of cake even plusher and moister than making the cake mix as according to manufacturer's instructions. For some magical reason, it also eliminates the characteristic cake-mix-aftertaste.  Easy to make, tasty to eat, good way to get rid of the dregs of your jar of mayo in the fridge! A good pantry recipe to have on hand. Cake Mix Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (adapted from Food.com ) Ingredients : 1 box chocolate or devil's food cake mix 2 large eggs 1 & 1/3 cups water (or milk) 1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup chocolate chips (optional) 1 recipe of favorite frosting recipe (optional) Instructions : Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line a 9x13 inch cake pan (you can use a bundt pan too). In a large mixing bowl, pour in the cake mix (I like to sift it to...

Previously on this blog, I have revealed my go-to buttermilk pancake recipe . It has stood the test of time and trials of other recipes, emerging yet victorious again with my latest innovation-- replacing the buttermilk for Greek-style yogurt! When asked for descriptors for this new version, I got these responses: "Fluffy...Good crunch on outside...moist...holds shape well." Which are actually a good demonstration of exactly what was lacking in the previous version: heft and structure. The original recipe was moist and tender to almost the point where there was some collapse of the crumb, which sometimes comes across as being mushy instead of moist. I've been on a Greek-style yogurt kick lately. It is thick and goes well with many sorts of jams and cereals/nuts, I can get non-fat versions in bulk on my normal grocery shopping runs to Costco. Here, they boost the protein content, with twice as much protein as normal yogurt or buttermilk. I like the sturdiness ...

For the most part, I'm a morning person. This means that on any given weekend day, I am usually wide-awake by 7 or 8 am (with help from my hungry cats, of course) and have to get out of bed due to an inability to return to sleep and a restless mind. Once the cats are fed and my OCD tendencies to clean up around the kitchen are satisfied, I find myself in the mood for making brunch food. And since I can usually count on a couple hours before the hubby drags himself out of bed (can you guess he's a night owl?), I can get a good start on something delectable to surprise him for his (late) breakfast. Usually I go for making a batch of pancakes or French toast, but one recent weekend, I had my mind fixed on cinnamon buns. A soft and fluffy yeasted bun would be ideal in texture, but with this baking powder-dough version on my radar, the compromise in having a non-traditional coffee cake-like texture was perfectly acceptable in exchange for the advantage of savin...

This is the queen of boozy cakes. Three-fourths of a cup of limoncello baked into the cake, then another 1/2 cup in a soaking syrup AFTER baking...eyebrows will raise at the rapidity of limoncello consumption in your household. I am a big fan of alcohol-spiked box mix concoctions. The alcohol masks/ameliorates the box cake mix aftertaste and the texture of the box mix is just so plush and moist that it's just useless to deny that such a texture is hard to replicate with from-scratch recipes. And with the myriad of liqueurs at one's disposal, the combinations are endless. Limoncello Cake (adapted from Blog Well Done and about.com ) Ingredients : 1 box yellow cake mix (probably white or lemon cake mix will work fine too) 1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix (the four-serving size, could also use lemon flavored) 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup water 3/4 cup limoncello 4 eggs 3/4 cup brown sugar 3/4 cup butter 1/2 cup limoncello 3 tbsp lemon juice 3 tbsp lemon zes...

In yet another example of food blogger fads, which I am uncharacteristically very happy to follow, here is a recipe from the much-anticipated cookbook by the Fat Witch Bakery that just hit the shelves less than a month ago. They specialize in brownies of all sorts and flavors. Another bakery to put on the list for our future potential revisits to NYC! These brownies had the thickest crackly-shiny top that I've ever made in homemade brownies! They had a nice mild chocolate flavor and more of a moist cakey texture than probably the original fudgy brownies were (many reviewers of the book on Amazon actually complained about the cakey texture). I think this texture is due to the lower-than-normal chocolate content and a good number of eggs (four). I think next time I will retry these brownies with one less egg, as one of my brownie-connoisseur taste-testers suggested, and this may do the trick for getting slightly chewier/fudgier brownies. Although these were tasty just the way th...

I love quickbreads and muffins. It's the number one food label/tag on this blog. I'm perhaps more than slightly obsessed by finding recipes for moist, soft, not-too-sweet muffin-y goodness (as evidenced by the disproportionate number of recipes I have of quickbreads of various sorts versus other types of baked goods). They're quick and easy, often don't require a mixer, are crowd-pleasers, and freeze up beautifully for months of delicious, homemade breakfasts. But I have a somewhat shameful admission to make as a baker and as a quickbread/muffin-lover: I don't like banana bread. Heresy, I know, I know... One of the most versatile base recipes ever, rich in nutrients, moist... everything a good quickbread should be. I just don't like the taste, or the smell. I barely like eating fresh bananas. (And let's all ignore the phallic implications of bananas... ) But wait, hear me out. (Don't burn me yet). I humbly offer as a replacement delic...

This may be one of the ugliest Bundt cakes with icing I've seen or made, but at the same time, it is one of the tastiest-looking cakes I've seen as well. Cursed fast-drying icing!! *shakes fist at imaginary pot of icing* GRR!! You will not defeat me next time!! Happily, this cake will grace many more events in my lifetime because of how delicious it was, and so I will have more chances to make the appearance look presentable! Mid-November is a time for whiskey. Not because of some arcane cultural tradition, but because one of my classmates, who is particularly fond of the stuff, has his birthday in mid-November (celebrated belatedly in early December this year). For the last couple of years I have tried to find cake recipes in honor of the occasion, and this recipe outdid my offering for last year, I think. I started out with the Chocolate Whiskey Cake as found on My Baking Adventures and pretty much made the cake as according to the recipe verbatim. Half a cup of whisk...

That mochi cake was such a hit last time that I knew I had to try it with the quintessential Asian dessert pairing: matcha (green tea powder) and azuki (sweetened red bean). The recipe is exactly the same as before , except I used 2 tablespoons of matcha and one 7-something ounce can of sweetened but whole azuki (you can find it in the canned sweet things in your Asian grocery...don't get the red bean paste, but the whole beans) in place of the blueberries. Oh, also, this time I used the mochiko from Koda Farms rather than the other brand I used the first time...and it made a big difference in the thickening properties of the batter. So use the Koda Farms mochiko if you can! The results? DELICIOUS. Soft, moist spongy, chewy, crunchy top, fragrant with tea, awesome with tea or coffee....addictive.

Penzey's is a chain store that sells fine spices and extracts. There's one in every major city, but pretty much that's it. We're lucky enough to have one here, and it's a really great place to find 4 types of cinnamon and buy it in bulk, or vanilla so strong you actually taste it when you put it in baked goods. They put out a catalog every season, and there are several recipes strewn throughout the listings of spices, including the cookie I bring to you today. The funny thing about this cookie recipe is that without the secret ingredient, it's basically the Toll-House chocolate chip cookie recipe, verbatim. But just adding this one thing takes it to a whole different level. And the secret ingredient is: a box of vanilla pudding mix! It makes these cookies have that catering/store-bought, soft, chewy cookie texture that you just don't usually get at home. Guilty pleasures...... Wynonia Moss's Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Penzey's Spices Harvest ...