French Toast Casserole

Some of you may remember that I work in retail during my spare time.  So, the last 2 months have be rather crazy for me.  I was working 6 days a week.  I use to have off just about every weekend, but that became non-existent.  When I had off on the weekends I tried to make a nice breakfast one of the two days.  Ok, most of the time it was just pancakes and sausage because that was all my daughter would eat. Now that I have my weekends back, I want to get back into making breakfast and also baking something.

This weekend I decided to make a French Toast Casserole.  The picture had me sold from the beginning.  

What do you think?

I got the recipe from Betty Crocker.  If you would like to try it for yourself here is the link.... http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/french-toast-casserole/72f6a15c-4dd1-4682-ad2a-bb8bdea3f9f4 .  

Now, I am sorry I forgot to take a picture of my version.  I know I deserve a flogging for my mistaken, but I hope you all forgive this time.  I think mine looked very similar except for the nuts.  I am not big on nuts.  

Ok, I need to stop making it sound like it was prefect because it wasn't.  I know hard to believe, but it is true.  I also know I am my own worst critic.  I always will be.  Overall, it turn out good.  There just needs to be a few adjustments next around.  The first thing I need to do is let it come to room temperature before putting into the oven.  The next is how the bread is arranged in the pan.  The overlapping caused the covered parts not to be cook.  I am thinking the solution to this is to use a bigger pan and lay all the bread flat instead of overlapping them.  I know this will use less bread, so I know I will need to make an adjustment to how much batter is used.  I am thinking next time will be better.  I promise to let you know when I do this and take pictures too.

Until next time...... Happy Baking!!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

In my last post I had told you that a dear friend's birthday was coming up and she wanted red velvet for her cake.  This weekend was the first trial run of a recipe.  I thought I would start with a recipe from someone whom I believe is the epitome of Southern cooking.... Paula Deen.  I did not have to look very far on her website to find a recipe.  This is the one I used..... http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/red_velvet_cupcakes_with_cream_cheese_frosting/ .  I found it to be a very easy recipe.  I would honestly recommend it to anyone who is an amateur baker.  There is a few more things about it, but I will get to them in a minute because I know all of you want to see the cupcakes.  I know it is the only reason anyone reads my blog is to look at all the pretty pictures.  It's ok.  I don't blame you.  I love looking at things I wish I could eat too.  So, no more stalling.....

YUMMY!

Well, what do you think?  I know looks great and it was good too.

Ok, now onto some of the other stuff about the cake.  I will be honest I have no idea what a red velvet cake should taste like.  I have had it before, but I will admit I thought it was a bit dry.  These cupcakes to me just tasted like any cake.  It did not have any real distinct flavor to it.  The birthday girl tried and thought they were ok.  They were good, but not what she was looking for.  After some discussion, this version is not exactly what she is looking for in the cake.  So, it is back to oven for me.  I have a recipe from one of my favorite websites... AllRecipes.com.  There is a few tweaks that I will need to make, but I think it will work.  Of course, I will let you know all about it when I make them.

Until next time...... Happy Baking!!!

A New Year.... A New Beginning

It is a new year and I finally have an idea what other posts I want to make besides letting you know about my baking adventures.  I am planning on writing about different baking topics.  This topics could be about recipes, baking techniques, baking tools, or just fun ideas I come across.

This one is going to be a little mix of both.  

A very good friend of mine is turning 40 this May.  She is already starting to make plans for it.  She wants a red velvet cake for the party and of course she thought of me.  Why wouldn't she?  Well, we talked about it and she has a few requests about the cake.  They are simple things, but for me they could be a challenge.  Even though I have had made red velvet before, it is still a little foreign to me since I didn't grow up in the South.  So, for the next step I need to start looking for recipes and try them out.  My first try-out will be this weekend.  After a suggestion from B, I found a Paula Deen cupcake recipe.  The picture makes it look so good.....

Can't wait to try it!

Don't worry my faithfully readers..... I'll will let you all know about how they turned out and how they look.

But, this whole thing got me thinking.  I never heard of a red velvet cake before I moved to Texas.  I had no idea what it was.  A cake that was red?  I know I know you could make a cake any color with the magic of food coloring, but this wasn't a colored white cake.  It was its own thing.  Then it made me think.... 

What other desserts, sweets, and pastries that are out there that I never heard of because they are a regional thing?  

I need to find out.  I am truly curious about this.  One way to solve this problem will be to travel around the country or maybe even the world going from bakery to bakery.  Ummmm, no.  Not really a feasible idea.  (Very nice thought, though!)  Ok, I guess I can go with option 2.... surfing the web.  This will be my next step.  I going to do some research and let you know what I find.  This is going to be fun!

Until next time....... Happy Baking!

Cheesecake... No Longer a Mystery... Well, Not Exactly

Now that Christmas is over I can breathe again for the moment.  I had fun and did a few things over the last month.

From my last post you all know I got to make my first wedding cake.  This was a great experience and truthfully I hope to get another opportunity.  So, anyone out there in the local area.... (hint, hint).

This Christmas I was planning on making homemade gift baskets for some of my and my husband's co-workers, but there was a slight change of plans.  His office decided to do and old fashion cookie swap, which he joyfully volunteered my services.  How nice of him.  Now this was beyond his control, they did change the date of the swap and I had only a day to bake 3 dozen cookies.  No big deal, I had most of what I needed to make my Monster Cookies.  Then for me, work very busy and I didn't have the time to make too many things.  So, I went with Monster Cookies for all my gift baskets.  They were a huge hit with my daughter's teachers.  A big enough hit that one of her teachers order a chocolate cheesecake for Christmas.

This was my adventure..... making a cheesecake.  I had never made one before.  The closest I came to making a cheesecake was making a pie.  I never owned a spring form pan until now.  As much as I love using new toys, I was a little afraid of this one.  The one thing I was not sure about getting the bottom of the pan off.  I was actually stumped on this one.  I tried to find an episode of Good Eats on Food Network that I had seen, but was unable to find it.  So, I dove in and made the first cake.

Not too bad.

It eventually came off after fighting with a knife.

Lucky for me the crust thick and no one noticed the thinner spots. Overall the cake was great.

Round 2.... thought I would try some preventive measures.

No such luck.

Cake broke in half.

Well, I can at least say this much... I conquered the making of the cheesecake, but not the removal of one.

I need to back to the kitchen I guess.  I am not complaining.

So, until next time...... Happy Baking!

The Wedding Cake

I can finally say I made my first wedding cake.  Here it is.....

I know it isn't too elaborate or anything, but I like to think it is pretty good.

I made this cake for a co-worker.  She just got married on December 10th.  She decided to have a very small intimate wedding.  She had no plans of having a cake at the reception.  I, of course, could not let that happen.  Every woman needs a cake at he wedding.  So, I decided to make her her cake anyway.

With getting married a few weeks before Christmas, she was having a Christmas/Winter themed wedding.  With that in mind, I started thinking of winter type things to decorate with.  I really wanted to make snowflakes, but was unable to find a snowflake cutter or anything that looked like one on such short noticed.  So, I thought stars was the next best things.  This was my inspiration.  It was from Wilton.com ......

I know, it isn't exactly the same, but that I wasn't trying for that.  I just wanted an idea.  The inspiration cake is done completely in fondant, where I iced the cake in buttercream and only the stars are made from fondant. I covered the stars in a blue and silver pearl dust. (This was actually very fun to do).  It was also my first time working with fondant.  After getting over my initial fear of it, I really like working with it and can really see the potential of using it.  I hope to get the chance to use it again.

I had real fun making this cake and it was great seeing J's face when she saw it.  She was happy and I was glad to bring a little extra happiness to her on her special day.

I know I have bee talking about doing a few different with my blog and haven't done anything.  But, I finally have what I want to do, so look for some new fun things after the New Year.  

Until next time....... Happy Baking!

I think I did it!

After I started this blog I had tried something new for me.  I made cinnamon rolls completely from scratch. (If you want to check out the old post here it is  http://sweettreatsandmore-colleen.blogspot.com/2010/09/tried-something-new.html ) In my opinion I did not think I was very successful.  Overall, the rolls were good, but I knew they could be better.  I know I am my on worst critic, but even hubby agreed then weren't my best.  I had pretty much figured out what was wrong.... it was the yeast.  Those little suckers just didn't produce the gas they were suppose to.

I did try again not to long ago with not much better results.  They still tasted great but could have been a lot better.  This time instead of being chewy they were much more dense and heavy.  Cinnamon rolls are not suppose to be heavy.  Again, the culprit was the yeast.  I was starting to think this little ingredient was doing it on purpose just to drive me crazy. (Yes, I do believe that inanimate objects do things to annoy me)  I was about to give up trying until.....

Last week co-worker and I were talking about my baking.  She kept bugging me to make cinnamon rolls for her.  I was very hesitant because of my first two failed attempts, but after about a week I thought, "What the heck I need to try again."  So, I did.  Here is the result....

I think MUCH better this time!

YAY!  SUCCESS!!  I beat those little suckers!  The battle was long and hard, but in the end I won!  (Ok, I know a little over the top, but I am happy)  Actually, in the end I just used a completely different recipe then the first two.  Everyone that had one today said they were great.  I guess I can add another the the win column.

Until next time...... Happy Baking!

An Even Newer Adventure

About two weeks ago, my sister-in-law made a very interesting Facebook status update.  I had known she was working with a some people on a collaboration for a website.  What I didn't know was there had been some creative differences and the founders parted ways.  Well,  that didn't stop my spunky sister-in-law and her cohorts.  They decided to start a new collaboration.  And by some strange stroke of luck, I am now a part of this brain child.  Today is the official launch date of Off The Deep End. I think it is a perfect name.  I don't know all of my co-workers as of yet.  (I guess you can call us that.)  But, I know that will change very soon.  We all come from different walks of life and have different views on the world.

I hope you will come check us out over at www.off-the-deep-end.net. I will be making my first post over there next Monday.  I will have a post there every week. So, please stop by, roam around, take a look at things, sit for a spell, and enjoy yourself!  You won't be disappointed!

Until next time..... Happy Baking!