Mommy's Mis-Adventures in the Kitchen-#2 - Baking 101

Last winter I took a baking class, really my first ever cooking class! I was very pregnant at the time so I think my domestic hormones were kicking in & I must have been channeling June Cleaver or something. I have to say I enjoyed it very much and learned quite a bit. The biggest take-away was that I have a lot to learn so this will probably not be my last class. But it's okay because it's something I want to do as opposed to something I have to do. I absolutely loved our chef teacher. She was kind and patient and funny! Or maybe she just thought my skills or lack there of, were pretty hilarious. Hmm.

Anyhow the girls have reaped some benefits of my baking experience and we made some Xmas cookies last year. Not to embarrass myself I only shared with my immediate family, the peanuts and J. Once I could please their taste buds I'd be ready to offer my goodies to the rest of the world.

How did I stumble upon this class?? I pass by Chef Central often on my way to the baby store. I have never ventured inside well because it does say "CHEF" and I'm not a chef by any definition. So I have no business in there. Except one day I was in search for a platter for Thanksgiving for my other adventure (my latte cheesecake) so I thought I might check it out. When I walked in I was amazed by all of the amazing chef STUFF they had! I must have looked like one of the Willy Wonka kids in the Chocolate Factory. I might as well have walked on to one of the sets of the Food Network! They had everything from exotic spices and ingredients to the latest tools and gadgets and lovely displays to show off delectable creations of skilled chefs. None of this really relates to me but nevertheless I walked around aisle after aisle wishing I knew how to use all of these magnificent little contraptions. By the time I reached the back of the store I found a cooking classroom and a wonderful person in one of those cool chef jackets, the object of my envy. They had a calendar display of all the great classes they offered and the level of each one. Level 1 would be novice. That would be me! I was excited that they offered some hope for poor hapless wanna-be-bakers like myself! It was a chance to learn how to make something not from a box or refrigerated tube.

These people really knew what they were doing with this class. They managed to teach someone like me how to create something like this!

J was totally impressed when I came home with these goodies!! I think he was under the delusion that I could pull this off on a regular basis on my own, neither of which was true.

These were the girls favorite, glass sugar cookies made with candy centers. Not too difficult and quite yummy!

These were my favorite, white chocolate cranberry cookies & chocolate macaroons. These were easy and required no artistic ability!

Rugelach cookies, these were a royal pain! I don't think I could repeat this at home, as it had way too many steps but they were tasty.

THESE were my pride and joy! They were what you would call my pièce de ré·sis·tance!!

These were great and I put in a lot of time in the decor and was so happy with the result that I didn't want anyone to eat them :) Eventually J convinced me that I should let the girls eat them, so I did.

This year I pulled out the recipes and decided the peanuts and I should practice our cookies for Santa's big arrival. They're older and I thought it would be fun to decorate some sugar cookies. Not sure what we'll try next but this is how this adventure turned out.

First lesson of Xmas cookies is that delicious cookies require work! Cati took it well...Val umm not so sure.

They suggested that we just bake them & eat them. But I persisted, and next it was some more work to make them look pretty. And just so you know that's home-made royal icing. I'm pretty impressed with myself.

VOILA!! Done!

I will not tell you which ones I did and which ones the girls did, for fear that I might receive some ego-bruising commentary lol! And finally it was time for us to enjoy the fruits (or cookies) of our labor!

I have no idea if the girls were looking to make something that they could be proud of but by the looks of it I think they were just looking for a reason to convince me to give them yet another sugary treat. I had a totally different agenda, to prove to myself that I could bake something edible and easy on the eyes! HA!

I also want to start some holiday traditions with the girls that they could look back on fondly. And I'm hoping that maybe just maybe they won't remember that mom was not the best baker but they could look back and remember that we had fun doing it.

Mommy's Mis-Adventures in the Kitchen- Thanksgiving 2010

Well folks this blog has been mostly about my adventures as a mom with my beloved peanuts. But after a conversation over dinner with some good friends (~~&&NYC) I've decided to shake things up a bit around here. Part of being a mom of two picky eaters & wife of another picky eater means experimenting in the kitchen. Now if you're a member of my family, you probably don't think I can cook, but I assure you that I can. I just don't cook for all of you because you guys only like one type of food, Peruvian, that's it! If you're a friend that we've had over for dinner and/or parties you know that good food will always be in abundance at our home gatherings. And if you're my husband (hopefully there's only 1 person who can claim this) you know that I love love love cook books & watching cooking on TV and on occasion I'll actually try new things! Giada, Ina Rachel & Paula are my idols and I would do anything to spend a day in their kitchen. But since I can't I will invite them to spend a day in MINE. :) ...in my mind of course.

While being a working mom of twins certainly makes me very busy, I can't neglect other interests that I'm passionate about. There are things I enjoy doing & maybe one day I can make a decent living from it! But whether I can make money or not it shouldn't stop me from doing them. So I've made a commitment to myself (& my blog) to pursue these interests and share some of my adventures with those who care to read about it.

Soooo...Mommy's Mis-Adventures In the Kitchen #1

I'm not a trained chef. I can't even say that I'm a great cook. I like to say that I'm a decent cook that every now then surprises my family with something great. But here I will share with you my ups & downs in my kitchen with some of my favorite top chefs & their recipes.

Every year at Thanksgiving I think of a few dishes I want to try out. Ask J, it's no easy task for me but I do put a lot of effort into it. First I go through a list of dishes from something I've watched on the Food Network from one of my mentors (Ina, Giada, Paula, or Rachel). On occasion I have used some others for inspiration. I might also stumble upon something surfing through other blogs or my fav Cooking Light magazine. Some key dishes have been so good we've made them a tradition. Others experiments have been a big goose egg....ERRR try again :(

For dessert I usually make the pies, both pumpkin (my little brother's favorite) and sweet potato which seems to be everyone's favorite. Look how pitty pitty is my sweet potato pies :)

And we usually need to make extra for our post-Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Here's a yummy pumpkin pie that my lil bro likes because its delish but also a healthy version I got from Cooking Light magazine.

This year THIS caught my eye. Even the title of this recipe made my mouth water, Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake. UMMM I know your mouth is watering too right? After reading this over & over again it sounded easy & I have to admit that it was easy, even for this novice baker.

If you look at our pictures side by side, I would say...not bad.

Here's mine...

And here's miss Sprinkle Bake's...cool huh?! Ok so her's looks a tad better but I'm sure it's the whole camera angle.

While this really was an easy recipe, nothing is THAT easy for me. So here's my Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake adventure. First off I don't do crusts. I don't know why but I have attempted a few times & it just doesn't happen for me. For my pies I go with the frozen store brand & it usually works out great. But I couldn't find any cheesecake crusts in the frozen aisle. So I walked down the baking aisle and examined every so called easy-to-make crust. After thorough analysis and about 10 minutes of my kids screaming at me, I went with the graham cracker crumbs & followed the directions on the back. It was 3 steps, how hard could it be? Done.

Back home, it's Wednesday night and the girls are fast asleep. There's no way I could do this with them up & I wanted my focus to be on this dessert. I also prepped my pies at night too. So I'm making my graham cracker crust & I realize that the box doesn't answer some of the for-dummies-questions like, what if it doesn't look like it's enough? The directions say add the butter & press into your spring form pan. Got it, but I'm pressing & it's cracking & leaving gaps. So I keep pressing & pressing & somehow this is stuff is supposed to be enough for the bottom of the pan & up the sides?? Uumm...I don't think so. Then I figure I'll make more but I don't have enough to double the instructions so how much butter do I add to what's left of crumbs about 1/2 cup? Again, there is no 1-800# on the back of the box! Seriously, if anyone from Betty Crocker is reading, here's a suggestion add a friggin phone number where newbie bakers can call with questions. And make sure there's an experienced American baker answering the line.

Anyhow, I did what I could & into the freezer it went to chill out while I made the filling. I have to say the filling went a whole lot better & it really was pretty easy. UNTIL....until I realized I forgot to get the instant espresso. AAACKK! My cheesecake is nearly done & there's a missing ingredient. So I think...do I improvise? That's never really gone that well for me. Do I substitute with instant coffee? How bad could it be? Do I just skip it? Hmmm...nope. I decided to send J to the supermarket at 11pm at night. I know, I know, BIIIIIG mistake. Ladies, never, evah, evah send a grumpy husband to the market for something he's never seen before in his life. Even with specific instructions and the indication of which aisle he should go to, he still came back with coffe grounds. Yes friends this is not instant, it's ground espresso. UGGHHH meanwhile my filling is sitting idle waiting for the final touch!!

However in his defense and as a note to his incredible patience with me he went back & called from the super market until he got the right thing. Thank you God.

At 1am out came Penelope (that's my name for my master piece) & she looked lovely. And she smelled even better. I set her gently on the cooling rack to cool for an hour.

And then I realized the recipe did not say how the heck you're supposed to get the cake off of the bottom pan. WTF?? I wasn't ABOUT to ruin my masterpiece by trying to scrape it off the friggin pan. Again people, maybe to you chefs it's stating the obvious but to people like me it's a rack-your-brain-effort to figure this stuff out. I realize I'm a college graduate but I'm a home ec dropout. So Penelope stayed in the pan. And we just placed her on a pretty dish & covered up nicely & carefully placed into the fridge until tomorrow, when we'd have to figure out how to get her to Grandma's house for dinner in one piece. I offered to take separate cars for Penelope's sake but J was not having it. MEN!

My presentation is not quite as sophisticated as Ms. Sprinkle Bakes but I think it was ok. I couldn't do the whole powdered sugar pattern & opted for a more abstract look. I think the next time I make this I'll add some vanilla cool whip which might be a nice compliment to the hint of latte in the cake.

The critics response: J is not a coffee drinker so he couldn't appreciate the spice latte bit. I think only those who have had the distinct pleasure of enjoying a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte could really dig this. But he liked it & ate his share without leaving anything behind. Translation, thumb up! And my brother-in-law asked me why didn't live closer so he could eat some more. Translation, TWO thumbs up!! :) YAY!!