July, 2014 | Just About Baked

Cookies and Cream Frosted Brownies

I think we all have our weaknesses. Some are more serious than others, for sure. People argue quite heatedly whether sugar is an addiction, and I’m going to ignore all the studies and state with quite a bit of certainty that if sugar’s not an addiction, it sure as heck comes close. Because anything that I crave this much is entering danger territory.

I’ve tried to fight it. I even went two months sugar-free last year to see what would happen. Nothing happened. I didn’t have cravings as madly as I’d supposed, but I also never lost the desire to eat chocolate. So there you have it.

Liebster Award: The Fun Never Stops!

July 29, 2014
Mir
Odds n' Ends
8 Comments

No recipe today, people. But I’ve got some mean cookies and cream brownies coming your way tomorrow morning! In the meantime, today’s post is about the wonderful world of food blogging.

One of the most fun things about being a baking blogger is meeting other baking bloggers. No, not in person, silly! We all live in different places. But we’re all very adorable and witty and love to comment on (and drool over) the desserts we share.

A little while back, I discovered Gayle from Pumpkin n’ Spice. Her recipes are awesome and you need to go to her blog right now! Well, right after you read this. Do that first.

PB Oreo Frozen Yogurt Shake

July 28, 2014
Mir
Healthier Indulgences, We Scream for Ice Cream!
8 Comments

You’d think I would’ve learned by now. You know, how to stand upright and walk without incident. Turns out, it ain’t so easy.

A year ago, I was running. But then a weird fluke fall led to a hip break, and then a foot break, so I’ve been cross-training and strength training for several months. The one day I tried running again I fell over. Again. Yes, it’s definitely me. Can’t blame the even suburban terrain on this one!

So the other day I was just walking, heading calmly to my weekly voice lesson, and down I went. I gotta tell you, I was pretty embarrassed. Especially because I wiped out right in front of a whole group of ballet dancers. Nothing is more humiliating then falling over in front of a group of stick-thin, graceful women who have body coordination. So as soon as my lesson ended, I ran home and made this fro yo shake to recover my sense of equilibrium.

Magic Middle Cookies

When I was in college, this really eccentric husband-wife team oversaw my dining hall. They looked like a sweet older couple, but he always made really dirty jokes and she would shoot you the evil eye forever if you so much as left a scrap of food on your plate. But they fed me, so I was grateful.

Every now and then, they’d serve the best slice and bake cookies in the universe. No, I’m not exaggerating, so leave me alone. They were really the best. And I’ve hunted them down for years without any luck. It’s so sad!

They were rich chocolate cookies, huge ones, with an amazing peanut butter center that reminded me of a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Can you wonder at all why these were my idea of perfection? Years later, I learned that this kind of cookie is called a Magic Middle. And while they are magical, they can take a while to make with both the cookie dough and the peanut butter center dough. So I made up a shortcut, a cheat, a whatever. And they taste even better than the labor-intensive ones!

Nectarine Lime Crumble

Okay, have I mentioned that I have a thing for white nectarines? Well, I do. In the summer, I cannot go to a grocery store without buying at least six. And if I’m in a store two days in a row, well, that’s 12. I eat them plain, put them in salads, and bake them up in desserts.

But I have another obsession as well, and it’s kind of a year-round thing. Anything with lime, anytime, I’m there. I know it’s not fashionable to like lime in December, but hey, they sell limes all the time. I’m buying them. Simple as that!

Last week, I had an idea. What if I took my two favorite summer fruit flavors and combined them? Gross, or spectacular? I had to find out. Turns out, it paid off!

Copycat Georgetown Cupcakes (Chocolate Ganache)

As you may know if you read my blog with any regularity, I reside in the incomparable DC/Metro area. I didn’t grow up here, but as soon as I moved to our nation’s capital, I knew it was home, at least for a while. My favorite thing to do is just roam around the city, sometimes for hours. Someday I’ll write more about that.

DC is known for many tourist attractions, like monuments and museums. But a few years back, our humble city also became famous for…cupcakes.

Yep, Georgetown Cupcake, the famous pink-infused cupcake chain, hasn’t slowed down since the day it opened! I wasn’t even aware of its existence until a colleague’s son was on the camera crew for TLC’s DC Cupcakes, a reality show about the store. Suddenly, pink boxes began coming into the office because the camera crew got extras left over at the end of the day. Believe me, I was grateful!
Anyway, since that time, I’ve been to Georgetown Cupcake many times, and it’s a happy and cheerful place. Even better, the owners share their recipes with everyone! This one is a favorite of mine, their chocolate ganache.

Pink Velvet Cookies

My kids don’t eat my desserts.

Let me backtrack. When I became a mom, I decided I would bake for my children. They would take freshly made cookies for granted, know the exact texture and thickness of a perfect brownie, and crave my homemade creations with nostalgia when they grew up and left home.

I didn’t realize that small children don’t really like anything decadent. You have to keep it simple. Like, a plain cookie. A sugar one. With nothing else. Sigh. It doesn’t really appeal to my creativity, I’ll tell you that!

But I finally hit upon a cookie that both they and I love! Thank the powers above, because I was in the mood to be cute and girly today, not boring.

Kitchen Sink Ice Cream (No Machine Needed!)

Many of my friends in life have come and gone, and I guess it’s sad, but that’s the way the overbaked cookie crumbles. The very best ones stick around, though, and I express my appreciation the best way I know how: rampant consumerism.

Do I buy most of my friends? Heavens, no. But two of my pals, good old Ben and Jerry, like it when I spend my hard-earned cash on them. So I try to be a loyal buddy.

Over the years, Ben and Jerry’s flavors have gone through quite a rotation. They’ve taken away some of my absolute favorites, and I’ve been very vocal on their website about bringing those flavors back. But thank the powers above that my very favorite is still in existence. It’s known as Everything But The…

No, I didn’t cut off in the middle of the sentence. That’s the flavor. But we all know that expression ends with the words “kitchen sink.” In baking, that’s a term we use to describe the scientific process by which we take all the leftover crap in the house, dump it into a batch of whatever, and call it a night.

Peanut Butter Ganache Cookie Bars

So this week I went back to work for all-day leadership meetings. I’m a teacher, which means I get summers off, but I’m also the elected faculty representative for the other teachers in the building, so I work a bit here and there when my colleagues are off having beach time.

Anyway, I’ve come to a very important conclusion about going back to work.

It makes me more productive! I know, duh. But it makes me work better everywhere. The house is neater. My bills are paid. And I baked three different things today, all of which I’m so excited to share with you! And the first is this evil little puppy right here.

White Chocolate Cheesecake

Being a baking blogger can come with certain challenges. Among them are:

1) Several epic fails while testing out recipes

2) Taking bad pictures of delicious food

3) Getting sticky residue on every available kitchen surface

4) Turning down a night out because you need to wait for dough to rise

5) Figuring out how to share all of your baked goods

6) Constantly thinking of new ideas for recipes

And, my challenge of the week:

7) Sharing a recipe when the subject (in this case, a cheesecake) was a gift to another person, thereby preventing me from taking pictures of a sliced version and making you drool.