Petits Fours

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Ashley

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Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but there’s a first for everything. I DO NOT recommend trying this at home. I mean, you can if you want to, but be prepared to spend some serious time in the kitchen.

I’m not going to post the recipe, but if you are interested in trying to make your own just use a basic sponge cake recipe, a syrup of your choice, a filler, and icing. Easy as…petits fours (which are not easy).

This is my cake. It’s been resting upside down between two pans (I stacked a few books an top for good measure) for about half an hour so that it will be flat and level.

Using a sharp, serrated knife, cut the cake in half. On one side spread raspberry jam (with seeds removed), on the other side spread a syrup (mine was made with pineapple liquor, confectioners sugar, and lemon flavoring).

Put the cake back together.

Top the cake with a thin layer of marzipan. As you can see, I cut my cake into two pieces to make it a little more manageable.

Make icing (in a bowl over boiling water). Corn syrup, confectioners sugar, water, vanilla, and food colouring.

Getting these puppies covered in icing…let’s just say…not an easy task.

What do you think?

What’s The Big Deal About Bacon Anyway?

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Ashley

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So yesterday was Pancake Tuesday, and while I would have liked to use the excuse to make a tall stack of buttermilk pancakes, with blueberries, drizzled (covered) in maple syrup…I resisted.

Instead, Fletch and I decided to use some of my “late arriving” Valentines Day gifts to make a pretty stellar (but healthy) dinner.

Oh, did I not mention my extra gifts? Yeah, sometimes he really knows how to earn those brownie points.

So what did the boy pull out of his magic hat this time? Kitchen toys! A flour mill, a tortilla press, a cast-iron griddle, and a three-tier cooling rack. Not too shabby, right?

While these toys are neat, there really aren’t a whole lot of…options. So…tortillas it is!

And when one has tortillas, what does one make for dinner? Fajitas!

See, I told you there would be more colour!

Why do I have the Old El Paso song in my head now?

Alright, so by now you’re probably thinking “fajitas are nice and all…but the title mentioned something about bacon”. It’s true. I was trying to be sooooo good. BUT…then a little birdie (Fletch) whispered something in my ear about bacon cupcakes.

Bacon cupcakes you say? Is that a challenge? Well….I do have a new three tier cooling rack that I haven’t had a chance to use yet.

I present to you: Peanut Butter Maple Bacon Cupcakes with Maple Bacon Frosting.

I only ate one! Scouts honor. Recipe to come soon….I’m terrified about finding out the nutritional information for these babies…

Blueberry Cheesecake

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Ashley

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After the red velvet cheesecake brownies I made the other day, I was really craving cheesecake. Coincidentally, on the same Pinterest visit (I may have wasted a lot of time that day) that I found the brownies, I also saw a picture of a gorgeous blueberry cheesecake.

Now, cheesecake, especially blueberry cheesecake, is a dangerous territory for me. The one and only time I have ever attempted to make a cheesecake I was 9 or 10 years old. My mom and I made blueberry cheesecake. I don’t remember much about the experience, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t have that much to do with the whole thing. What I do remember is that it failed. It was such a failure that it has gone down in family history as one of those “remember that time we tried to make cheesecake” incidents.

Cheesecake has intimidated me ever since. It has become my dessert order of choice at restaurants, because it is usually one of the only options that I “can’t” make for myself.

Cheesecake, we could say, was my Waterloo.

Well yesterday I decided to put that all behind me. I’ve come a long way since the age of 9, and gosh darn it, I was going to make a blueberry cheesecake. I had guests coming for dinner, I was going to serve them something they would not soon forget.

Well, I think I accomplished the “not forgetting” part…but maybe for the wrong reasons…

It started out perfectly.

1. Beautiful graham cracker crust.
2. Graham crackers ready to meet their maker.
3. Pureed blueberries meet cream cheese.
4. Purple mess.
5. Ready, “set”, go.
6. Gelatin. This was in my cupboard. I have no idea why. Can gelatin go bad?

It seemed to be going smoothly. It looked like cheesecake filling. It tasted like cheesecake filling. My kitchen certainly looked like it had played some part in the creation of a purple masterpiece…

At this point all I could was put the cheesecake in the fridge, cross my fingers, and hope for the best.

It came out of the mold. I covered the top with whipped cream and blueberries.

It looked….OK (not quite like the picture above though).

I can only hope that this was impressive to those who hadn’t seen the original photo. I guess the cat is out of the bag now!

It was at this point that everything went downhill…

The cheesecake sort of…fell off the plate. It was one of those times when all you can really do is laugh.

Then it started to melt. Just to add insult to injury.

Blueberry mousse anyone?

At least I can honestly say, it was DELICIOUS. Maybe it wasn’t a cheesecake, but it was some super-yummy blueberry mousse. People just don’t have three servings of something that doesn’t taste good.

Maybe it was the coconut milk substitution for heavy cream, maybe it was the translation from Polish.

There are two things I know for certain.

1. I know a great recipe for blueberry-coconut mousse.

2. Blueberry Cheesecake really is my Waterloo.

If you are brave enough to try this for yourself, find the recipe here.

Kaiser Buns

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Ashley

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Every once in awhile Fletch does something that causes me to have a moment. A Julie & Julia style “this is the man I married moment”.

We were debating what to have for dinner the other night, and as we had some ground beef thawed, we decided on burgers and fries. A great Friday night dinner. The only thing missing was the buns.

There is a corner store, literally around the corner, and I can guarantee they sell buns. But my Fletch, he says (having never made bread before), “I want to make kaiser buns”.

Was this a practical option (to be discussing at 5:30pm)? Not in the least! Was I completely on board? You bet!!

We may have only sat down for dinner at 9:00pm, but who cares? It gave me time to make Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies :)

As further evidence that I have chosen wisely, they were THE BEST buns I have ever tasted. No lie. THE BEST.

Seriously, you know it’s good when you are eating around the burger so that nothing gets in the way of the delicious, warm, chewy bread. And the (home-made) french fries get cold because you don’t touch them.

Fletch was very excited about his foray into the world of bread-making, and so, he diligently documented the whole process. In order to give full credit for his mastery of kaiser buns (with only a very small amount of mentoring from myself) I would like to share it with you.

If you would like to try this for yourself, check out the recipe he used here: Parmesan Kaiser Buns

1. Yeast in water

2. Mix it all up

4. (Yes I put the photos in the wrong order) Coat the dough with olive oil

3. Cover with a moist towel, and leave to rise in a warm place for around an hour

5. Beautiful dough

Divide the dough into 6 sections. Roll into 12 inch long strings, and form buns. Repeat the rising process.

Brush with egg white, and sprinkle with poppy seeds.

Bake. This is the face of accomplishment.

These are the best buns ever.

Just another Friday night at the Decently Domestic household. NBD.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Ashley

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I saw a picture of this on Pinterest, and I HAD to try it. It’s not my usual routine, as I prefer to put my own spin on things, but in the spirit of Valentines Day, I let someone else do all the hard work.

For the original recipe, check out The Novice Chef.

The batter, it’s kind of like tar…

Spread the batter out onto your pan, you’re going to have to work at this. It does NOT move at all on its own.

Spread the cheesecake on top of the red velvet brownie layer.

You save some of the brownie layer, thin it out with milk, and then use to marble the top.

I found THE MOST ADORABLE cookie cutter EVER. House hippo anyone?

This looks pretty amazing.

Scraps. See that untouched part up in the corner? I got fed up and made it into squares. Much less wasted brownie that way. Also (don’t read this part if you get grossed out easily), my roommate came downstairs (not knowing what I was making) and saw a plate of scraps sitting on the counter, he thought it was raw meat scraps with pieces of fat….

What boy wouldn’t like opening a tin and finding this on Valentines Day? Which for us, coincidentally, is this morning. Saturday just works better, don’t you think?

My Review

A+ for presentation. They look Amazing. Also, with a name like “red velvet cheesecake brownies” how would anyone resist trying them?

Unfortunately, for this girl, that’s where the rave review ends.

They were, OK.

For the amount of delicious ingredients (5 eggs, and 2 full packages of cream cheese!) that went into this creation, I really expected more. I found that they didn’t quite taste like brownies, and they didn’t quite taste like cheesecake.

Also the batter is SO dense, it took 3 times longer than the recipe said for the middle to cook, and by that time the edges were getting crispy.

I think that I might tweak the recipe to make red cheesecake and vanilla cake/blondies instead.

Also, I found that the layers separated during the cookie-cutter step. It might have been easier to just bake the first layer, and then add the marble layer and bake a little longer.

All in all, a successful experiment. They look wonderful, and I can guarantee they will all get eaten (and believe me, there are A LOT) :)

Addendum
Try these babies cold. Consider my opinion changed. They are addictive :)