French Fridays With Dorie #1: Gougeres

For the past year or so I have been following the baking bloggers of Tuesdays with Dorie, and drooling over every recipe. The few recipes that I have tried from Dorie's book Baking: From My Home to Yours, have been fabulous. When I saw that a new group was created to cook and bake through Around My French Table, I was very intrigued! I considered joining, but thought 'I don't cook French food' and dismissed the idea. But then, I pondered it some more and thought 'Why don't I cook French food?' I am very excited for this group because it will get me to cook and bake recipes that I normally would not. My copy of Around My French Table is in the mail as I type, as is Baking: From My Home to Yours. I am super excited about both of them, I love reading cookbooks, especially when they have photographs! Luckily, the recipes for the month of October were supplied on the FFWD website, for situations like mine. How thoughtful =) Dorie chose Gougeres for our first recipe, a beautiful choice in my opinion! I love that they don't need any strange ingredients or a huge list of spices; just simple, easily available, lovely ingredients. I whipped up a quarter of the recipe on Thursday afternoon in the dorm kitchen. And I must admit, I was feeling pretty smug when I pulled out a tray of golden, firm and puffy cheese puffs from the oven. Of course, I did wonder why they were done so soon but still, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. That is, until a few minutes later I realized that I had forgotten to turn the oven down when I put the tray in the oven! And the instructions were right beside me! Ooops! I was pleasantly surprised at how much they puffed up while baking, and I would like to try mini ones next time. Next week is a mustard tart... I'm sure I won't feel quite so smug about my abilities when that comes around! I popped four of these one after the other, they are that good. I definitely prefer them warm, but then, that's my opinion on most all baked goods! So go to your kitchen and whip up some of these awesome gougeres (note to self: find out how to pronounce gougeres!) and you can feel proud of your cooking skills too!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

My lack of photo skills do no justice to these lovely cookies, none whatsoever! These are Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with craisins and white chocolate chips, oh yes! (On a side note, I have recently discovered the magic which is the combination of white chocolate and peanut butter! Definitely awesome beyond compare!) Pumpkin season is here! I now have some pumpkin in my mini-fridge to do what I will with... I'm thinking pumpkin blondies? Or pancakes, soup, pumpkin pie bars, oatmeal, bundt cake, coffee cake, gnocchi, pasta, biscotti... maybe them all! Get the recipe for these cookies from Jamie at My Baking addiction.

Monday, Monday

I love biscuits, but I only liked these ones. I don't think it's the recipes fault, I think it's mine. You see, the recipe makes around 10 biscuits, and I sure as heck don't need to eat 10 biscuits! I cut the recipe down and made two, and I think (know) that my measuring was not as precise as it could have been. They were still good, but nothing special. I enjoyed one yesterday for supper and the other for lunch today with tomato soup (thanks to Shanna!). There is a beautiful lake here that takes me about 15 minutes to walk to. Every time I go there are people just sitting and gazing, it's that beautiful. Song of the Day: Monday, Monday by The Mamas and The Papas

S'mores Cookies

I know, I know... It's September. But Fall isn't officially here yet, and so therefore it is still S'mores season! These cookies are SO good. It is crazy how good they are, honestly! My sister and my brother (both of whom have eaten their fair share of cookies, and then some!) proclaimed them to be one of, if not the, best cookies they had ever eaten. They were gone in hours. Usually, I attack chocolate chip cookies warm from the oven, but once they are cooled, I can take them or leave them. These were irresistible at any temperature. Many thanks to Jamie from My Baking Addiction for the recipe! The only changes I made were to take away 1/4 cup of flour and add 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs instead, and I used less chocolate chips, maybe half the amount called for. Visit Jamie's AWESOME blog for this fabulous recipe!!! These are simply too terrific to wait until next summer, bake them today =)

Hi world!

It stands to reason that my first post should be about something in a loaf pan. This is out of necessity, as well as my love for loaves! See, I only have a few baking tools here: A loaf pan, a cookie sheet, an 8x8 pan, one mixing bowl and basic hand-held tools. No muffin tin, no 9x13 pan, no spring form pan, no mixer. This recipe from Amanda of Fake Ginger was perfect: it only used 2 bowls, (or in my case, one bowl and a measuring cup), and a spatula! I used 3 Tbsp of applesauce in the place of the 2 Tbsp of butter called for, and it worked out fine. The bread wafted the loveliest smell out of the oven while it baked as an added bonus. I don't have a zester or grater that will work for orange zest, so I had to use a knife. This resulted in larger pieces of zest than usual, but I say they add a nice visual. It was quite the challenge to photograph this bread. Not because it was ugly, it wasn't, but because the light in my dorm room is horrible! I managed to find one tiny patch of sunlight coming through the small window and took advantage of it. I shared it with 3 people who were hanging out in the common area, and one proclaimed me to be "amazing". I'm inclined to agree ;) This bread is super quick to throw together and tastes great. Perfect for the last little bit of summer. Head over to Fake Ginger for the recipe and thanks for stopping by!