SOOOO my co-worker and friend, Ashley was having a birthday and I figured, why get her a store-bought cake when I could make one especially for her? Her favorite cake is yellow with chocolate frosting, and fortunately, I stumbled across this. Smitten Kitchen's "Best Birthday Cake". I used her exact recipe, so I won't post it here, but it turned out amazing...especially the frosting, which wasn't too sweet but had an incredible flavor! So anyway, the pictures below are just the process, but it turned out fabulous and I highly recommend this recipe!
I brought this lovely little tart to a dinner party at Matt's boss' house and it was a huge hit. Since the party was on a weeknight, I needed something that I could make the night before and keep at room temperature to bring to the party. I found this recipe on Pinterest and tweaked it just a touch. This recipe was so easy and required pretty minimal effort, especially because I used store-bought puff pastry. I will definitely make this again but may even change it up a bit by adding some drizzles of a good balsamic, or a touch more goat cheese.
Wow guys, I really can't wait to talk to you guys about this one... I've had my first encounter with making macarons AND I have a fantastically sweet giveaway going on! So a couple of months ago, I discovered this amazing website that sells all kinds of kitchen stuff (like pretty much anything you can think of!), called Big Kitchen. You can find it by clicking here. So I tweeted to them to see if maybe we could work out some kind of review/giveaway treat for the OinK readers and they agreed! (yay!) I was given a few different options but when I saw the "Macaron making set" on the list, I was sold. I've never tried making macarons before, frankly because everyone else who blogs about making macarons talks about how hard they can be and how the first time never goes well. I will admit, these are not perfect. There are definitely some improvements I could make and I will explain that below in the Verdict section.  The Macaron baking sheet is awesome. I don't know about y'all but whenever I'm told how much to put of dough/batter/anything on a cookie sheet, I always put more than I'm supposed to and it can be very annoying. With macarons it would not only be annoying, but would probably turn these little guys into total disasters. This silicone sheet makes it so easy to know exactly how much of the macaron batter you need for each half of the shell and it has ridges so you really can't mess it up too bad! Plus it makes clean up super easy! I mean seriously, the only part of my macarons that could use help was the batter itself (I'm not sure I folded correctly or if I didn't sift the flour properly). All human error basically, so if you already know how to make macaron batter you are golden! Even if you don't, this silicone sheet at least makes it super easy to ensure you have the right shape and size for your perfect macarons! I truly loved it.
 Now...on to the pastry bag. I'm obsessed. like incredibly obsessed. obsessed. okay I'll stop, but seriously it is AMAZING. I wish all of you could win this. I will never use my other pastry bags again. I don't even know where to begin! First off, they are silicone, which makes cleaning them pretty much the easiest thing ever. It also comes with this darling little brush that helps you clean the thinnest part so it's easy to get all the icing/batter/whatever out! Also, it comes with a stand. A STAND! No more trying to wrap my pastry bag over the top of a glass to fill it. This bag stands up so easily in the stand (thanks to the silicone I'm sure). Also, it comes with multiple shapes/heads (6 to be exact) that easily attach and detach without couplers! You don't need couplers anymore! Seriously amazing. Also, when it is standing up in the stand you don't have to worry about batter or icing dripping out as you are filling it because it comes with a little cap that you just easily take off before using. Not only are there 6 tips but there are 3 bags (two 17.5 oz and one 8.8 oz) so you can use more than one at a time and there is a clasp for sealing the bag so icing/batter doesn't come out the top! Seriously, whoever wins this is super lucky, and I wish you all the best of luck! I'm so happy I have this little set because I plan to use the pastry bag set for everything (cakes, icing cookies, etc.) and will definitely be making many macarons this summer, both to perfect my technique, and because I think they make the perfect little dessert, especially in the summertime when you don't want something especially heavy.
Here's what it looked like while making it and on the baking mat: And out of the oven: Definitely not perfect, but much better than what I was expecting! I can't wait to make more and get better at this! Without the baking sheet and the bag I probably would have pulled my hair out trying to do this! The Verdict:I used this basic macaron recipe (although the macaron baking sheet comes with a raspberry macaron recipe that looks amazing but I didn't have raspberry preserves). I filled half of the macarons with a basic buttercream and the other half with nutella ( swoon). They were both delicious but I'm leaning more towards nutella. I really want to make more this summer and jazz them up with some fun fillings, like raspberry etc. Any ideas y'all have would be great! Anyway, although they didn't turn out perfect, that was clearly human error and I think that these products are fabulous. I think I either didn't fold the batter right or I just didn't sift the flour enough. I'm not really sure, but I think that macarons are kind of a "practice makes perfect" kind of dessert and I plan to practice a LOT with this set. So now that I've gabbed on for like a million years as to why I loved these products, you can actually find out how to enter! Simply read the instructions below and post a comment to enter. How to Enter:
Required First Entry: Go to Big Kitchen and pick out something you'd like! It can be anything... a new knife, a food processor, anything! Extra entries (leave a comment for each!)Like Big Kitchen on FacebookFollow Big Kitchen on TwitterLike Order in the Kitchen on FacebookFollow Order in the Kitchen on TwitterTweet the following: "I just entered a giveaway from @orderinthekitch to win a Macaron making set and you can too! http://tinyurl.com/cwzqq9r " Giveaway ends June 10th at 11:59 pm. A winner will be chosen by a random number generator. Duplicate comments will be deleted. Winner will have 48 hours to confirm or an alternate winner will be selected. Please leave your real email address in order to be contacted! While I did receive this product for free to review, the opinions and statements regarding the products are my own and I was not compensated for them.
Sooooo, exciting news! Little Muggsy turned 3 years old! 3 whole years old! I've heard that this is when dogs start calming down, but I don't really see that happening with this one any time soon. I decided to make some simple sugar cookies (not for her...she got to eat treats and some steak plus a new toy!). I wanted to make them look like her toys and so I picked her two faves! She LOVES her FETCH ball (so much so that she has already chewed off the blue FETCH letters off!) and her KONG toy. Read on for more!
Hey y'all, it's been awhile! Last week and this week have been very exciting and busy! I had my birthday last Thursday, our housewarming party on Saturday and today is my One Year Blogiversary!!! I can't believe that a year ago, I started this little old blog and began this awesome journey. I've met so many incredible people and have made some great friends (some who I've even met in real life!) I've loved it so much and I wish I was making something awesome to celebrate, but I have been dying to show y'all what I made for the housewarming and the cake I did for my birthday, so I think I'll share that instead... I hope that's okay with y'all :) First I'll talk about the housewarming things I put together, and then I'll move in to the birthday cake! So we all know that I love Pinterest. Like love, love, love it. I have about 65 boards and 6500 pins (eeek I'm out of control!) Anyway, Matt and I decided to have a housewarming to celebrate moving in to our new place. So, of course, I took this as an opportunity to make a new board. Now, I didn't make everything on that board, but I let it inspire me, and I definitely felt like I succeeded in making that board come to life! It ended up being a lot of work, but thankfully I had my friend Kristen in town to help me make all this stuff! Here are some of the highlights... I'll add captions to describe them and give some instructions.
Hey y'all... I'm doing the holiday thing early (or right on time, in blogger world). I realize that I posted my 4th of July cake ON the 4th of July, and my holiday cookies on December 30th (oy vey) and that does not give readers enough time to make these holiday items for the actual holiday (unless they have a time machine...if you do, please let me know). I wanted to make mini-cakes for St. Paddy's day that reminded me (and hopefully you too!) of little lucky pots of gold! (I have recently been informed that it is actually St. PADDY's day and not St. Patty's day...learn something new every day huh?!)
Yesterday, my friend Marina had a birthday. I won't tell you how old she is but I'll tell you that she is definitely a glamour girl... a princess... a girl who loves to and deserved to party in style. So nothing felt more right than making her a glittery, girly, princess-y cake! I had been brainstorming for weeks. Planning and pinning the best ideas I had found and inspiration for what I wanted to create for her. If you don't know what I mean by pinning, here you go. You're welcome. {Don't blame me when you get addicted...just warning you} Pinterest is the world's best internet site to find inspiration and amazing things. I had made a board with all of the best ideas I thought would fit her personality and be delicious as well. I decided to go with a few different ideas: Glitter, Bows, and Ombre. I used the recipe from Whisk Kid for a "White (but not really) Cake" which Sweetapolita also used for her amazing rainbow doodle cake. I then made all the layers different shades of purple. Basically I took the whole batter and weighed it on my scale, then determined that each layer (of 6) would be 9 3/4 oz and then it was easy to measure out each layer. I greased the pans and then did the first layer as white (real white, not off white...I used white Americolor gel to get the white layer perfectly white). Then after taking out the white layer and putting it in a 9in greased cake pan, I added in a little purple Americolor (these things are amazing) into the bowl (see below)...then measured out the next layer, added more purple and then did the next layer...and so on until I had done all 6 layers, the 6th layer being a deep purple.
Remember when I told you about my New Year's Resolutions? And how my friend Marnely from Cooking with Books and I had made a resolution to cook a live lobster (after humanely killing it, of course)? Well, we set a deadline of end of January to do so, so I needed to find a live lobster ASAP. I didn't even know where to find a live lobster, so I performed a google search and found a great lobster company out of Maine, Simply Lobsters. I worked with Don, who was an absolute joy to work with. He was so quick to respond to my email and sent me a lobster to review via overnight shipping. I spoke to him at 9am on Wednesday and by 9am the next morning there was a fresh 3lb. lobster from Maine sitting at my front door (carefully wrapped up of course!)! Keep reading to see how you can win the giveaway of two 1.65 lb lobsters for Valentine's Day! The lobster arrived alive, as it should be, and was carefully packaged with its claws wrapped in rubber bands (so it didn't attack me!). Here's a sneak peak at the whole process:
Hey all, I promised to post my holiday cookies and I know they aren't much use to you now but at least you will have this reference if you want to plan ahead for next year! I made a few different kinds. I made gingerbread cookies for Matt's boss (who is a judge...that's why they are wearing robes) and sugar cookies for everyone else!
Let me back up and tell you a little Christmas story. I was unfortunately scheduled to work on Christmas Eve and was very upset at the thought of not being able to be with my family during that time. I found two lovely ladies to cover my shift so that I could be with my family. I dubbed them my Christmas Angels, and made them cookies for being so sweet to offer to do it. That is what Christmas is really about to me-- being with your family, and doing kind things for others when you know it will mean a lot to them.
Now that you have a little background, I'll show you all the cookies and you can keep them as a reference for next Christmas.
So it's the day after Christmas! Actually it's almost the day after the day after Christmas because it's almost 11 on December 26th so I'm getting dangerously close to missing the "Christmas post" window... or maybe I already have...who know's I'm new to the blogosphere. Anyway, I had a really wonderful Christmas and I hope that you all did as well (or a happy hanukkah or whatever your celebration of choice may be!) I truly hope it was a happy one filled with laughter and family. Family is what Christmas is all about to me. This year was a completely different Christmas than we are used to. It was our first Christmas without our beloved Mimi, who always reminded us what the true spirit of Christmas was all about. This was also the first Christmas in I don't even know how long that our whole family has not been able to be together for the holidays. We had planned to go to West Virginia to see the whole family, as we did for Thanksgiving, but unfortunately sometimes life does not permit those things to happen. My Uncle J, with whom I'm very close, has been battling cancer since 2006. He's a stubborn man though and he's been fighting the fight so well. He's still doing okay but had to be admitted to Johns Hopkins last week, and so, the family would be split up for Christmas...half of us in NC and half of us in MD. We still spoke on the phone and we are going to have a January "Christmas" once everything calms down, but we are all certainly hoping that next Christmas we will get to be together again.
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