Procrastination

What do I do when I have a final exam tomorrow that I'm totally and completely unprepared for? I bake, of course. Powered through my banana bread recipe, just waiting for the oven to finish preheating and then it's time for some delicious banana-odors to permeate my apartment. Take that, neighbors!

You know what I noticed? Banana bread batter looks like someone got very, very drunk, ate a whole chunk of bananas, and puked in a bowl.

See? Banana Puke. 

It always amazes me that something that looks so gross can be sooo delicious. But there it is. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere. Don't judge a book by it's cover, don't judge a bread by it's dough. 

I just keep staring at it, waiting for my oven to preheat... I'm so hungry. Now only an hour wait until I can pull it out and start staring at the actual bread while it cools... :P Photos to come, I'm sure. 

Happy Baking all!

I'm Ba-ack!

Whew. It's been a strange few months. I'm in the new (though not really anymore, I've been here 2 months) apartment, my roommate's been gone all but 2 weeks, and my oven is seriously wonky. But I've baked a couple things and just not posted them on here.

A couple days ago I decided to make chocolate chip cookies. Because they're fantastic. And delicious. Om nom nom.

Anyway, I made my normal recipe (http://kelseysappleaday.blogspot.com/2008/04/competition-chocolate-chip-cookies.html) and they turned out much better than normal. My oven doesn't like to set to the temperature I tell it to, so it was a little hotter than normal. I took about 4 minutes off the baking time, with about 20° extra heat. And they were delicious. I mean, I can normally restrain myself from eating more than a few. But I ate the entire batch in a few days, because they were just sitting on my counter begging to be enjoyed.

Sadly I don't have any more pictures, but I am hoping to re-create the deliciousness this weekend, and make them as wonderful as before.

Also, I'm going to be baking a lot for a bake sale coming up in August, so I should hopefully have a lot more posts soon!

Happy Baking!

I'm going a little batty. (I know, I know, 'going?' 'A little?') But holy crap. Finals week is over, I'm moving into an apartment that doesn't exist (as in I'm moving out of my apartment but I don't have anywhere to move to), and I bought a motorcycle and am now broke. So no baking for a little while.

And that's seriously bothering me, because I've been craving chocolate chip cookies hard core. But soon I won't really have a kitchen to use either, and I don't want to impose TOO much on my friends. I promise I will come back on here and post as soon as I have somewhere to bake again!

Happy baking!

The Velveteen Cupcakes

Last weekend I mentioned to a coworker that I enjoy baking, specifically cupcakes. That spawned a discussion about the possibility of me bringing in cupcakes, and an idea was born. I WAS planning to just make simple yellow cake and buttercreme frosting, because seriously, they're easy and delicious. But when Liz asked about red velvet cakes, I decided to give it a try.

I've never made red velvet cake before, so I had to look around a little while to find a recipe I thought would work best. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Red-Velvet-Cake-IV/Detail.aspx is the one I decided on.

I'm not taking in the cupcakes until Saturday morning, but since I have class tomorrow morning and work tomorrow night, I decided I'd rather make them a little early. They won't be quite as fresh, but people will just have to deal and not look a gift cupcake in the... cupcake?

Anyway, I had a big project due earlier today that I've been super stressed over. So after dinner I poured myself a glass of wine and got everything together.

Facebook, as always, is a vital part of everything I do.

Holy cow did this make a lot of batter. Not expected, although looking at the amounts (1 cup butter, 3 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, 1 cup buttermilk) I should have realized that. Regardless, the batter is delicious. Of course Maggie and I had to sample it.

Mmmm, soooo red and velvet-y looking!

In honor of Penguin Day. And I work at an animal shelter. It just seemed fitting.

A few cupcakes after the were pau in the oven.

Well, it's 11:20 and the cupcakes are baked. However, I am being a lazy bum and I think I'm going to wait to make frosting tomorrow after work, because I am le tired. So I will have a nap.

Happy Baking!

Ok, I lied. I waited WAAAY too long to post this photo, so I'm just adding it on here. Whoops.

Cuz Cookies are Choice!

Aloha ahiahi!

I made chocolate chip cookies tonight, because I have been craving cookies for a few days and the cupcakes I made last week were gone in 24 hours. Less, actually. Anyway, that's beside the point.

I used my normal chocolate chip cookie recipe (http://kelseysappleaday.blogspot.com/2008/04/competition-chocolate-chip-cookies.html) and the dough turned out delicious, as always. However, I think my oven isn't running as hot as it used to for whatever reason, because everything is taking longer to cook. Which is frustrating. I wound up having to not only bake the cookies several minutes longer, but I also had to turn up the temperature. And they still came out a little wonky. Nobody knows for sure.

Anyway, I definitely used my cookie making as a lure to get my friend Nick to come hang out with me.  Despite repeatedly protesting that he needed to sleep, the temptation of cookies fresh from the oven was too overpowering. Cuz cookies are choice! (I was going for an alliteration there, but all I could come up with is 'culinary,' and 'cuz cookies are culinary' just seemed... silly.) Cookies: 1, Nick: 0.

Anyway, the cookies are delicious as always and I'm happy to have them to munch on.

If you try this recipe, I recommend you follow the directions about how to separate the dough to put it on the sheet. I know, I know. Following the directions seems fairly common sense, right? Well, it's a pain in the butt and you get cookie dough all over your hands and then there's like 3 people texting you and you want to change the channel but you can't because you're a freaking cookie dough monstrosity and there's nothing you can do about it. But it's worth it, because the cookies turn out much better (at least for me: they don't bake as flat when I place them properly).

Happy baking!

A spoiled succubus is a happy succubus

I bought myself new icing tips. I didn't REALLY need them, but I've wanted new ones for so long that I decided to go for it and buy myself some. And, thank goodness, the ones I wanted were only $3 for a package that included the two I was hoping for and one other. So it might not seem like much, but it's a big deal for me.

Carly had a potluck on Saturday night, but since I was arriving late, I told her I would bring cupcakes for dessert. Besides, let's face it, cupcakes are definitely my strong suit. So of course the first new icing tip got it's first tryout!



I LOVE IT. My previous tips (you know, from the beginner set) are so tiny that it takes forever and I never get the signature puffy icing that cupcakes should have. I mean, they're great, but I don't do writing because I shake too much, and so I only ever really used the one tip. And these just turned out so fantastic! Minus the weird cupcake-cup-peeling-off-the-cupcake thing. That was annoying. Google has suggested to me that maybe it's an airtight container thing (I packed these up right away, normally my cupcakes sit out for a while after baking.


Anyway, I made half of the cupcakes swirly, and by request from Ria, did the "flower" design she likes on the other half. It was so much easier to get the right amount of icing on the cupcakes, and the cupcakes themselves looked so much more professional (minus the darn liner thing, seriously, wth man?).

I've been semi-roped into making cupcakes for my coworkers next weekend. The people I know best are all working with me on Saturday, so it's perfect timing for some cupcakes. :) I'll try another new tip then!

Good thing it's only practice...

Last night I got bored, so I decided to bake cupcakes. Keep in mind that we still have half of a peanut butter cake from Ria's birthday, and Ria JUST made brownies Friday morning (although those are all gone as of Monday night). So there's been a LOT of baked goods happening in this apartment lately.

I decided to bake cupcakes because I was bored, and wanted practice decorating them. I always do this and forget that I don't like any of the tips from my tip set. They're all just so small it's hard to do anything with them. So I messed around with one a little bit and had some fun, but overall I wasn't overly pleased with the results.

One thing that particularly helps when baking cupcakes is making sure you set your oven to the right temperature. Not 50° low. That's my first tip: set the oven to the CORRECT temperature. Because I had to put them in longer and wasn't entirely paying attention, the first batch came out a little overcooked and dry along the edges.

By the end I was so warm (the problem with baking in Hawaii) that I just scribbled frosting on the last few and called it quits. Not very inspiring, I know.

On the plus side, they're delicious. :D