It's October! Snicker Apple Salad

Aren't you so excited about the truth of my title?!!  October is, hands down, the best month ever. I get a happy feeling in my belly this time of year, it's so much fun.  I know a lot of folks get really bored and annoyed when all the pumpkin spice lattes roll out, but it couldn't make me happier. I also finally have a good excuse to wear scarfs. (Even though it's still in the 80s outside). It's October, do what makes you happy.  Watch some football, enjoy some food from the Fair, roll around in some beautiful leaves, have a chai latte, read a book. I'll take all of the above.

We all know what else makes me happy: making treats that people love.

I made this little dish this week for the group of folks I work with. I think it was a hit. I'll show you how I did it and add in a couple of ideas to tweak it a little. I think you'll like it, what says "October" like snickers and apples in the same dish?

Snicker Apple Salad: Full recipe below

 Here is what you will need. It can't get much easier!

 How did I get those perfect cubes from a snicker bar?? Well, I used my handy ulu knife. It did the trick flawlessly! 

 Regular knife for the apples. Don't worry about peeling the apples, the skin gives the dish color and character! I used Red Delicious apples. They are very sweet on top of the sweetness from the other ingredients. For a little kick, use Granny Smith or Pink Lady apples.

Mix and stir. 

Drizzle the caramel 

Mmmmm

Snicker Apple Salad:

6 Regular Snicker Bars
6 Apples
1 Pack Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix (dry)
1/2 Cup Milk
12-16 oz. Whipped Topping
Caramel or Chocolate Ice Cream Topping

Directions:
Chop apples and snickers into cubes; set aside. Whisk together pudding mix, milk, and cool whip until creamy and with no clumps. Stir in apples and snickers. I suggest leaving a small handful of snicker cubes out to sprinkle on top. Lastly, drizzle the caramel topping over the entire salad. Serve and Enjoy!

What a weekend

Yes, I know.. It's Tuesday, BUT I'm getting better about posting things in a timely manner.  This past weekend was a whirlwind. I hardly felt like I had 2 days off of work. It was more like coming into work on Monday was a break from the weekend.. only not.
Here's what went down.

Remember how I told you that I had my first big event to bake for? Well it happened and I couldn't have stressed more.  There is so much pressure in coming through for something like that. I still want my bakery one day, but I'll need my partner to make it all happen.

I started Thursday night baking cakes. I got 3 done and wrapped up in the refrigerator and all the strawberries pureed.  I felt like this was good planning and that I had a good start. I was sort of wrong.  I started baking Friday evening after work around 6. I went to bed around 1:00 am and got up at 7:00 to put in the last pan of Pink Lemonade bars so they could cool before I had to leave at 10:00 10:30. I also had to finish the Butter Pecan Cakes. Cream cheese icing can be very tricky to work with. I made an extra batch of it Friday night to touch up the cakes Saturday morning. This was the best idea. I pretty much fluffed the icing with my spreader. I dipped the salted/roasted pecans in white chocolate for garnish. It really worked out well I though.

Here is what my fridge looked like at midnight...

I'm really pleased with how easy the icing technique was. You may have seen around these cakes that look like they are covered in roses. E.A.S.Y.  Just make sure you start from the center and swirl out. that is the trick. Then make them all touch as closely as possible. and it looks like this!

So I managed to get everything loaded into the car around 10:30. This was a major feat in itself since the pans I bought to carry the cakes in weren't wide enough for the boards the cakes sit on. I had to improvise.  Like any good Baptist, I pulled out the laundry baskets to hold the cakes for the 2 hour ride to Lake, MS. We made it without squishing, wrecking, dropping, or even eating the cakes.  Success.

Everyone was very excited to see the cake and said how good they looked. I was worried about the blue icing getting to hard to cut, but AT LEAST it held its shape and looked right.  What can I say? I'm a work in progress. 

I staged the cakes and met the family and Bride and Groom to be. They were just so cute and you could tell they were so excited to be getting married. I was happy to be part of this small experience.

Congratulations Lauren & Quinton!

March 10, 2012

My next adventure over the weekend was engagement pictures with my oldest friend, Danielle. She decided to use my dear friend, Heather to take the photos for her. We made an entire day of it driving down to Laurel from Starkville in the morning and taking pictures all day.  I think she got close to 800 total! :0    It was so much fun acting as a creative director of sorts. Heather was so gracious to let me be so involved in her shoot. I can't wait to see how they turn out!  I don't have any pictures to show you just yet, but hopefully, once Danny gets her preview, she'll spare me one to share with you all to show off Heather's hard work. Stay tuned for that!

Resolution Cake- Butter pecan cake with rhum buttercream icing and white chocolate ganache

Hey bloggers!  It's been a while.. Again... I'm terribly sorry.  Time flies. I live 185 miles from my nearest parent or sibling... I travel a lot. In-Laws are out of state.. That being said, I hope you will take these excuses as my apology.. I should blog more.

I can seriously not believe it is 2012... i mean, when did I get this old?? (24 ugh....) Each year seems to go by faster and faster. I'm starting to believe my parents and grandparents now even though they've been preaching this to me my whole life.  It really is true.

Now to the baking thing.. since this is a food blog.. well.. sort of. half a food blog. There, I like that.
On New Year's Eve my friend Chelsea Lou and I decided to bake a cake. It's pretty routine for our relationship since we're going to open a Bakery one day. Hopefully in a couple years or so.  This recipe came as an experiment for a Bridal Shower cake/cupcakes I'll be making for her cousin at the end of the month. I'll show you how we made it, but in the mean time, I'd like to talk about the new year, what with all the resolutions floating around and all.

The new year is always a time to reflect and whatnot. So I got to reflecting myself and figure it's time for a new leaf of my own to overturn.  Maybe it's time to finally admit my secret celeb crushes on Zac Effron and Jason Segal.. Maybe not.  Maybe it's time to stop taking in so much butter. Definitely.  Maybe it's time I start writing in the journal that's been sitting by my bed for 2 months. Best intentions reborn.  Maybe it's time to start running again.  Got my running bag packed and in the car.

Now I feel better. Forget what you heard about Zac Effron. i'll deny it. My round-about point is that we all make promises to ourselves this time of year and it's time we start figuring out how to keep them.  I need less butter, but I need to bake. So.. Compromise.  That's what I did with this cake.  I baked it, and then I didn't eat it.  Well, I did have about 2 bites to make sure it wasn't poisonous. Check on that front btw... 
I baked it and then took it to a new year's celebration to let other's eat it. It wasn't a huge hit (I don't think) because I think it needed a little less rhum flavor but I'll tweek that here for you. No worries. So let's dig in.

From the beginning now. Here's what you'll need for Butter Pecan Cake. The icing and ganache will follow.

2  9in round cake pans. A non-sticking agent. 2 1/4 Cup flour. 3/4 cup sugar. 1 stick butter. 2 eggs. 1 Tbs. Baking powder. 1/2 tsp salt. 1 Cup milk. 1/3 cup brown sugar. and about 1 Cup chopped pecans.

 Pre heat your oven to 350

Melt the stick of butter over medium heat with pecans until slightly browned.

Strain the pecans from the butter and set butter aside.

 Get as much off them as you can. You're going to put the butter in the cake.

 Next add in the rest of the ingredients into mixing bowl. Flour, sugars, eggs, baking powder, milk, and salt.

**Pour in the butter you've browned as well.**

Mix for 2 minutes.

 It will look like this. It was a delightful batter. I say you can always judge a cake by its batter.

Then add in the pecans you strained.

Stir them up real nice.

Your cake batter is ready. Spray your pan.

Half your batter into the two pans. Get it as equal as you can.

Pop them in the oven for 25-28 minutes.

Next: The icing- Rhum Buttercream

This picture shows what you need for both the icing and ganache.

 For the icing: Take 1/2 cup crisco, 1 stick butter, 1/2 to 1 tsp Rhum extract and 4 cups Confectioner's sugar.

Cream together crisco and butter. Butter should be at room temp for best results.

Next add in your rhum extract and sugar 1 cup at a time.  Sift the sugar for the best consistency.

 After you mix in the sugar 1 cup at a time and it's all done, you may need to add in a little milk or heavy cream if it looks dry. Mine did, so I added about 2 Tbs of heavy cream and it ended up like this.

 Whippy and beautiful.



Make absolutely sure you let your cakes cool completely.  Then take one and ice the top of it.

 Stack the other on top and ice it all around.  Once the icing has set for a few minutes, it's not sticky anymore and you can usually smooth it over with your hand or other tool if you want it really smooth.

I didn't bother too much since I was putting ganache on top.

White Chocolate Ganache: 1 1/2 cup white choc. chips.  4 Tbs heavy cream (more if you need it) and 2-3 Tbs white karo syrup.  *Trust me here: Ganache is incredibly easy to make.*

Over medium heat, pour in your white choc chips and begin stiring immediately. They can burn fast if you don't watch them.

 Pour in your heavy cream and continue stirring.

Take of heat and add in syrup. Keep whisking away. It will harden up a bit now.

Then you can begin to drizzle, pour, dabble or whatever over the cake.

 I drizzled it in sort of a zigzag pattern... More like a tic-tac-toe board..

 Here I am holding the cake for you to see and enjoy.

 I hope it was good ;)

I have noticed that sometimes it's nearly impossible to eat what you've created because you're tired of smelling it etc.  Maybe that will be my secret weapon to shedding a few and still baking.

Oh and by the way, comments, tips, ideas etc, are always welcome!

Sierra

Mom-in-Law-Pleasin' Apple Pie

Hey kids! I've missed you. For real. It's been too long.  Life does that; keeps us apart and then we come back together over big slice of Apple Pie. Sit down for a while, i'll show you how I made it :)

You'll be surprised to hear that this is basically the first pie I've ever made.  Pies intimidate me, as a baker.. So i totally used a store-bought pie crust to ease the transition into Pie making town... Whew, what a load off.

My dear friend/basically a sister, Chelsea Lou suggested that we do our own Thanksgiving since Ben and Myself would be staying in StarkVegas for the holiday.  What a fantastic idea since I've always said that I'd let my sister Dee do all the holiday cookin' since I prefer baking to actual cooking any day of the week...  Might as well buck up and try it for myself. It was ok, I had Chels and she's ridiculous in a kitchen... no kidding.

So here's what I did. I took care of the dessert. And a couple other supporting roles in the meal. It was an overall success.

Let's have pie!

Here's what you'll need.

5 apples, butter, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, pie crusts (3)

*You'll also need a large iron skillet for this recipe*

**Be awesome and whip up your own whipping cream, it's exponentially better than cool whip**

Let's do this the old fashioned way. It's totally more fun.  Get your knife out and peel those apples. Do it.

Then slice em' up real thin and toss the creepy core parts..

I put the slices in some water to keep them from turning brown.

 

Now get your skillet out and put it on medium heat. Melt that whole stick of butter. Yes.

Put 1 cup of brown sugar straight into the melted butter.

It will look like this. Double yes.  Spread it out evenly to cover the bottom of the skillet.

Remove it from the heat and put your first pie crust directly on top of this mixture.

It's ok to get in there to keep it pretty.. you know.. just wash your manos first... no biggie.

 

Take half of your apple slices out of the water and shake them like a polaroid picture.. Or something like that. Just get most of the water off.

 

Mix together 1/3 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon together.

 

Then sprinkle all of it over the apples you've just so neatly spread out in the skillet.

It looks so yummy. Let's just eat it now?  No? You'd rather finish it and bake it??

Fine.

To resist temptation, put your second pie crust over your mixture.

 

You know what's next. Repeat.  Get the rest of the apples out and spread them just like before.

Make it pretty. No one like ugly pie... Wait.

Do the same sugar/cinnamon mix and sprinkle again. Cover with final pie crust.

I added this step in so it's totally optional. If you're not into egg washing your pies, I say, "that's cool." We can still be friends. But if you are... scramble the heck outta the egg and lotion up the pie. It just helps to brown the pie and make it shiny... I also sprinkled some sugar crystals on top for dramatic effect.

Then cut some holes in the top for air.

Bake your friend, Mr. Pie, at 350 for 30ish minutes. You'll smell it and know you're that much closer to heaven.

here he comes right out of the oven looking like Frodo and Sam's landscape outside Mordor... It's ok.

 

Let it set so the juices will creep to the top making little rivers of delicious.

That's it!! Pie making done easy! I named this one Mom-in-Law pleasin' since I got this recipe from mine :)

I promise it's good. If you don't believe me, I documented our friend enjoying a slice.

Happiness.

Now, go make a pie. It WILL make your day better.

Until next time, I love you.

xoxo Sierra