Canterbury Naturals Chocolate Crepe Mix

I am super excited to try these out! I've was planning to make a birthday dessert using chocolate crepes and I had resigned to the fact that I'd be doing it ALL from scratch. Lucky me when I spotted these at the store!

Now I'll be going the Semi-Homemade route and I'd like to think I'd make Sandra Dee proud :) All I have to add is eggs and water - that's what is says on the box!


Inside the box - the mix!


Click on the image for a larger pic of the nutrition info.


Click on the image for a larger pic of the Ingredients List.


What a thoughtful box mix <3


Don't these look yummy? They're a closeup of the image on the box.

Stephanie's 10th Birthday Cupcakes

I showed my baby cousin these Beach Bear cupcakes that the awesome Bakerella made and she immediately wanted to make the same to take to her classmates for her birthday. Her little sister Tiffany (aka my teeny baby cousin) helped to make them too!

Here's how our bears turned out:

It was so much fun making these! We used Teddy Grahams, YoGo Yogurt Bites, Gummy Life Savers and Fruit Roll-ups. For the "sand" we rolled the tinted icing in raw cane sugar :)

Madeleines and Chocolate Madeleines

We stopped by La Madeleine yesterday night and they had madeleines packaged for sale. I was inspired to make my own madeleines and try out my new madeleine pan. I made a batch of traditional madeleines and a batch of chocolate madeleines. I'm not 100% happy with the results. I think the traditional ones are a little too dark and I didn't like how the chocolate ones are "hole-ly". Despite that they were still tasty and I think acceptable for my first attempt at madeleines.

Traditional Madeleines (Makes 12)

2 eggs - room temp

1/2c Sugar

zest of 1 Lemon - I used a Meyer lemon

2 tsp Vanilla

2/3c all-purpose Flour

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

pinch of Salt

3/4 stick of Butter - melted & cooled

*Sift together flour, baking powder and salt - set aside. Mix sugar and lemon zest until fragrant. Then beat together with eggs using electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Add butter. Cover with plastic wrap for 3 hours.

*Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush molds with melted butter. Fill molds and bake for 12 min.

Chocolate Madeleines (Makes 12)

2 eggs - room temp

1/2c Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

2/3c all-purpose Flour

1/4c Cocoa Powder

1/4 tsp Baking Powder

pinch of Salt

3/4 stick of Butter - melted & cooled

*Sift together flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt - set aside. Beat sugar with eggs using electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Add butter. Cover with plastic wrap for 3 hours.
*Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush molds with melted butter. Fill molds and place in oven. Lower heat to 350 degrees and bake for 12 min.

Bread Pudding

1/2 loaf stale French bread
2 oz dried cranberries
3-4 eggs
1 c heavy cream
3 c milk
3/4 c sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
*set oven to 350 degrees. cut bread into cubes and place in baking dish. top with cranberries. mix all other ingredients and pour over bread. poke the cubes on top to make sure they're soaking up the custard mixture.

sooo yummy and easy to make! i overdid the vanilla but it turned out alright in the end. Mr. Stinky loved it and he doesn't like pudding textured foods (i know - weirdo). if a dessert needs to be made for a potluck - this is what i'm making!

Turkey & Feta Pies

Pate Brisee dough
1 lb ground turkey
8 oz shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
5 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
8 oz feta cheese
parsley
garlic
fennel seeds
crushed red pepper
extra virgin olive oil
*toast fennel seeds, crushed red pepper, and garlic. add oil and brown turkey with the spices. remove turkey and soften onions in pan. add tomatos and let them break down before adding turkey back to the pan w/mushrooms and parsley. salt and pepper to taste and let cool. stir in feta. filling is ready to place in dough and baked


the filling is really tasty and i could eat it all by itself. with the dough it's even better! the dough is relaly flaky and complements the taste really well. my sweetie doesn't have an iron tummy, so i'll use red bell pepper instead of tomatos.

Fudgy Brownies

.5 c (1 stick) unsalted butter
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
1.5 c sugar
4 eggs
3/4 c flour
.5 tsp salt
*heat oven to 350 degrees. melt chocolate and butter and let cool. stir in sugar then whisk eggs in 1 at a time. fold in flour and salt. bake for 40-45min 'til set. cool on wire rack.
**8 inch square


this brownie is so fudgy! i forgot to add the vanilla extract, but i discovered i'm not really a giant huge fan of vanilla extract flavor. maybe i have bad extract...but in the past when i've used it, the flavor is really pungent. anyways back to the brownie -- the edges got a little burned on the top but i blame my apt oven for that. the thermometer isn't very accurate and i had to chase the heat. great brownies though! i wanna make these for my sweetie and i'm sure these would go great with a scoop of vanilla!

Chocolate Scones

2.5 c flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
.5 c + 2 tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp baking soda
.25 tsp salt
1.25 sticks (10 tbsp) butter
1 c (5 oz) semisweet chocolate
1 egg
.5 c heavy cream
*heat oven to 375 degrees. mix dry ingredients and cut in butter coarsely. fold in chocolate. whisk together wet ingredients and fold into dry mixture. turn out dough and shape into rectangle. divide dough and bake 25-30min.


too many scones!! next time i'll be sure to halve the recipe. and i didn't like how the dough turned out. i was afraid of overmixing so the second the dough kinda held on its own, i quit trying to force it to come together. the dough was really crumbly but i had so much faith! i believed in the recipe until the very end when i opened the oven. i didn't like the chocolate chips in the finished scones either -- they just got in the way. i'm thinking of either making the chips smaller or melting the chocolate next time.

Cherry Slab Pie

Pate Brisee (prepare 1 day ahead)
6 c (2 lbs) frozen cherries 1.25 c sugar
.25 c cornstarch
.25 tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp heavy cream
.25 c sanding sugar (for sparkle)
*375 degree oven. mix all ingredients except pate brisee. roll larger piece of pate brisee to 18"x13" rectangle (enough to hang over rim) and place on baking sheet. pour cheery mixture on top. roll 2nd piece of pate brisee into 16"x11" rectangle and place on top. fold bottom crust up and pinch with top crust. prick all over with fork. optional: brush top with heavy cream and sprinkle with sanding sugar. bake for 40-55min (top should be golden brown and filling bubbling). cool for 45 min before serving.
**15"x10" slab pie

It turned out so pretty and it smells so good! Several mishaps happened along the way, and I've learned from it so all is well. I didn't roll out the bottom crust large enough to hang over the sides of the rim so I had to do some creative side pinching. Unfortunately, that didn't really work as you can see. The filling found it's way out of the crust -- but it's still tasty :) I almost forgot to prick the top crust but I was nosy enough to check the pie 5 min after sticking it in the oven to see a ginormous bubble dome in the middle of the oven. So I had to attack it to deflate it -- haha!

Pate Brisee

3.75 c All-Purpose Flour
2.5 tsp Salt
1.2 tsp Sugar
3 sticks Butter (unsalted, cold, diced)
.5 c+ Iced Water
*mix dry ingredients and cut in butter. stream in .5 c iced water plus add'l in tbsps. dough should be like "good dirt". shape & chill in fridge at least 1 hr or overnight.
**enough dough for 15"x10" pie

So happy! I made the dough by hand with the help of a pastry blender. At first I planned to use an electric hand mixer when it came time to add the water. As I put the whisk attachments on the mixer and plugged it in, I decided to just use my hands. When I first started adding the water, I had my doubts but I just kept folding the dry mixture and about a minute later the dough began to take it's shape :) After that I added the rest of the water and kneaded the dough for another 10 minutes or so on the counter. Now I just have to refridgerate it over night and it'll be ready for use tomorrow. Only got to use 1 of my nifty cooking tools but I love it already -- 23.5"x15.5" silicone baking mat. I've always hated having to roll out dough on the counter directly because in the back of my head I always doubt that I'v cleaned it enough (i know: paranoia). This thing is HUGE!! I love that I can wash it with peace of mind and as often as I like.

Journey to the Oven

I'm only halfway assembled but I think I've got all the essentials I need for now. I've got 2 baking sheets, a non-stick heavy rolling pin, a pastry blender, hand mixer (kinda), measuring instruments, and mixing bowls. That should be more than enough to begin my journey to becoming a skilled homebaker. Not just any homebaker, but a homebaker fit to rival Martha Stewart and her crafty minions. Muwahahaha!