Adventures in Baking
Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 12:25PM One of the best parts of having our own place is that I have my own kitchen again - not that my mother ever stopped me from doing anything in the kitchen that I wanted, but I really enjoy having the whole space to myself and puttering around, making things, and feeling free to fail with no one watching. I get very nervous when someone watches me cook or bake.
Last Friday, as a pre-Valentine's Day thing, I made a whole dinner and dessert for the hubby. I started with the dessert - Martha Stewart's chocolate cherry crumb bars:
The problem? I didn't like them that much. The hubby said he did, but he ate one and the rest sat in a container on our countertop until I threw them out last night - so I'm guessing he wasn't a big fan. I was bummed.
Last night, I decided to make Martha Stewart's chewy chocolate chip cookies for the hubby. He and I spent all day yesterday helping his brother move. I carried a lot of boxes and small things while the two of them carried all the huge stuff (sofas, tables, etc). I was tired at the end, but the hubby was beat so I figured he deserved a treat. I decided to make these because we're always debating the merits of crispy vs. chewy chocolate chip cookies (me=fan of crispy, crunchy; him=fan of chewy).
The only problem this time? I forgot to put the brown sugar in the cookies. le sigh So they turned out white white white and bland. He says they're edible but we'll see. I do not think they are edible at all.
So I am even more nervous about my other baking venture from last night: Smitten Kitchen's Whole Lemon Tart. I have never made a tart before; in fact, I didn't even own a tart pan so I bought one just for this recipe! You know, no pressure.
Well, the great unshrinkable sweet tart shell seems to have turned out great. It smelled great coming out of the oven and looked perfect - and the little crumb that fell off tasted great (*grin*). So, if nothing else, I know I have a great tart shell recipe.
I overfilled the tart because I missed the note on the recipe saying to leave 1/4" room at the top - oops. So while baking, it spilled over the edges of the tart and onto the silpat - but it was easy to clean because yay silpat! But the tart looks promising:
Right now it's chilling in the refrigerator - I'm hoping it firms up a bit more and is really dense when I bring it over to my parents' house later. Before doing so, I'm going to sprinkle confectioner's sugar over the top. I really, really hope it tastes good because I really enjoyed baking it.
After all that stress, though, I decided to go for something I hoped would be as simple as it seemed: Delightfully Sweet's German Pancakes. Neither the hubby nor I are huge pancake fans, but these looked so good that I was dying to try them. I really enjoy thin pancakes (like crepes) so these looked like the type I'd like. The bonus fun part is that they look funny when baking up - like a pancake bowl:
They quickly deflate, though (so I made sure to show the hubby how cool they looked pre-deflation). I promptly buttered and syruped up the pancake and made sure to take one last picture before devouring:
Okay, so my camera and picture-taking technique don't quite match up to Delightfully Sweet's, but that's okay - the pancakes still tasted very yummy - both the hubby and I totally enjoyed them. That plus my blueberry coffee has made for a great start to the day.
This afternoon/evening the hubby and I are taking our laundry, the lemon tart, and the pupper to my parents' house for dinner and the Oscars. I LOVE the Oscars red carpet pre-show stuff; I will watch it all from start to finish! The E! pre-show starts at 2pm EST so I better start getting ready!
baking, recipes, things that make me happy, things that make me sad in baking, life 
Reader Comments (4)
hmmm if only I could cook! :)
I can't cook without a recipe... but I've learned to really (seriously, REALLY) enjoy trying lots of different recipes.
How did the tart come out? I am thinking about making it. =)
The shell came out fantastic - I'm definitely going to use that shell recipe for anything going forward. The filling turned out okay. I need to use a better lemon next time and blend the sugar more so it's not so granular (personal texture preference) - but taste-wise, it was fair. Not, "Oooh, mmm, good!" but fair, edible and enjoyable enough. I'm definitely going to make it again.