[Elise] Afghan Ambitions

So with my month away from yarn, and the success of my first large scale project, my mind has been cooking up some colorful afghan plans. Now they are begining to materialize. I ordered yarn and a pair of needles from a place in the UK that had some cheap nice looking yarn (search "chunky acrylic yarn" I decided on colors 8, 14, 15, and 16). The afghan will be a patchwork blanket, however instead of knitting a bunch of small squares and stiching them together, I found a lovely pattern that knits each square directly from the previous squares. This should also solve my problem of getting very sick of working with just one color. I spent awhile playing in photoshop with color swatches coming up with patterns, and the one I liked best was one I created using a random number generator (for numbers 1-4) and then changed the edges just a bit so I'd be using the same amount of yarn in each color. I'll update more as yarn arrives and things progress.

[Elise] Cooking in Denmark

The crafting has been a little sluggish for me lately, as has been the baking, but all for good reason. I've begun my semester in Copenhagen, and have spent the past month adjusting to everything. One of the adjustments is that people here rarely eat out. There aren't dining halls or a myriad of premade foods on every corner like in the U.S. (atleast not cheaply). So I've began cooking for myself. Not that this is a new thing for me, just the day to day aspect. So since I have very little else to share at the moment, I'm going to show you one of my favorite quick(ish), simple, winter vegetable dishes. I made this up on the spot one night when I was sick of pasta, however I'm sure it's nothing astoundingly new.

Ingredients: (feeds one as a meal or 2-3 as a sidedish)

a handfull of small cooking potatoes (1-2" in diameter)
an equal quantity of carrots (the number will vary depending on the size of the carrot. Carrot size (and straightness) is less uniform here than at home)
one small onion
one clove garlic
canola oil (or olive)
seasonings to taste
swiss cheese

Begin boiling a small pot of water. While waiting for the water to boil cut the carrots into 2-3" lengths. When the water is boiling, add the carrots and potatoes together with a bit of salt.


While the root veggies boil, begin heating a skillet with the oil on medium heat. Slice the onion into thin-medium thickness rings. Mince the garlic. When the skillet is hot, begin sautéing the onions and garlic.

Once the potatoes are ready (easily poked with a fork) strain the root veggies. Let them cool a bit. Slice the carrots lengthwise, thinner pieces into halve, and thicker pieces into quarters. Slice the potatoes into disks.

Add the sliced root veggies to the sautéing onions. Drizzle with additional oil if necessary. Add any prefered seasonings. Continue sautéing until onions are transleucent and the root veggies are slightly browned.

Place on plate, salt and pepper to taste, and top with slices of swiss cheese.



Enjoy!

[Elise] Winter Break 3/3: Poncho

So this winter, my niece asked me to knit her a poncho for Christmas. Eager to get beyond the world of hats, scarves, and mittens, I agreed. It was done in two rectangular panels matress stitched together, in a simple non-frills lace pattern that was quite simple and lead to a very nice texture. Four balls of yarn later, finishing in an AmericInn just hours before leaving the country, here was the final result:



Detail:

[Inez] cakes, cakes, cakes

So, I don't actually have any pretty pictures to add this time. I don't know how many people actually read this thing, but I have a favor to ask of you. Remember the cook book idea I told you about in my last post? I need ideas. I need event ideas and cake ideas-- they don't have to go together, I just need events and cakes. Sample events:

• New crush (middle school) - confetti cake with pink buttercream frosting
  
• A case of the Mondays
• Potluck
• Finals week 
• First snow of the year
• College graduation

You get the idea.

[Inez] Molten blackberry-chocolate cakes

So there are two things I want to talk about. One is Valentine's Day, and the chocolate that implies. The other is this idea Eli had that I think I'd really like to follow through with. See, Eli suggested that I could make a cookbook with cakes for different occasions (the inspiration being I Got Dumped Cake, a.k.a sour cream-chocolate cake with peanut butter-cream cheese buttercream frosting and chocolate-peanut butter ganache).

We talked about if it should include different food groups, but Eli thinks (and I agree) that it will be more fun if it's just cakes. So anyway, then I set about thinking of different events that might merit cake (the Middle School Crush, Finals Week, etc). Valentine's Day of course deserves a cake. But let's be honest, Valentine's Day is actually two holidays. There's I Have a Boyfriend/Girlfriend and It's Valentine's Day, and then there's I'm Single and It's Valentine's Day. This is the I'm Single and It's Valentine's Day Cake.

I made it over at Steph and Jessie and Ariella's because Ella is out of town and I knew I wouldn't be able to eat all this cake by myself. Plus, I find cooking or baking for myself depressing. And on the flip side I get great joy from making food and then giving it to people. It really satisfies something inside me. That's probably why I was back at Steph's this morning (okay, afternoon) making scones for me, them, and everyone else around.

Anyway, Valentine's Day when you're single. For me it meant spending the afternoon making these amazing cakes, going to Ihop for dinner with some of my favorite women, watching romantic comedies with said women, and then going party hopping.

I use the term "party" loosely. The first stop meant having a protracted conversation with Fossi (an Ultimate guy) about the pros and cons of picking a bed for Spring Break on the basis of how much sleep will be achievable in said bed. I'm of the sentiment that an isolated room is best because when I want to party I'll be at the party, and when I go to bed it will be because I want to get some sleep. Fossi thinks that it's most important to be up until the party ends, at which point it doesn't matter how isolated your bedroom is, because everyone else will be sleeping too. I maintain that regardless of what time I go to bed, I don't want my bed to be in the same room as the hot tub because I can't imagine it staying dry for a whole week.

The second stop was a brief glimpse into complete madness, including strobe light, dancing, and general sleaziness. I think that stop lasted about 2 minutes.

The third stop was sitting around in Lloyd 70's common room eating pound cake and freeze pops. Actually I didn't eat much of either. Supposedly the freeze pops had electrolytes or something in them, but if you ask me, they were gross. Which was disappointing, because usually I really like freeze pops.

Wow, I got really ahead of myself. I forgot to talk about the cakes.

I've recently become aware of a phenomenon called a "molten chocolate cake." It's pretty much how it sounds: it's a single serving cake, baked in a ramekin, all oozy and melty and chocolatey in the middle. Amazing, right? Clearly the I'm Single and It's Valentine's Day cake.

There are, from what I can tell, two schools of thought when it comes to making molten chocolate cakes. One involves baking the cake long enough to bake the outside, but short enough to keep the center warm and gooey. The other one onvolves making a separate ganache-like filling, which gets plopped into a souffle-like outside and then covered with more souffle. Sounds amazing, right? This recipe takes it one step further. While the cake is straight up chocolate, the filling is raspberry-chocolate. Actually in this case it's blackberry-chocolate, because I had blackberries. I was happy to be able to share them with a whole bunch of people. I was a little nervous because it was a recipe I'd never used, but I'd say they turned out pretty frickin well.

Oh man. Aside from being a Valentine's Day cake, it might have to be a General Indulgence cake.

Recipe (thank you, Our Patisserie!)

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into tiny pieces

6 tbs unsalted butter

1/4 c strained fresh or frozen blackberry puree

2 tbs cocoa powder

3 tbs plus 2 tsp sugar

2 eggs, separated plus 1 egg white

Butter and dust with cocoa the insides of 6 (6 oz) souffle cups. Chill a small plate in your freezer. Combine chocolate and butter in double boiler and melt, stirring frequently. Transfer about 5 tablespoons of the melted chocolate mixture into a small bowl, add the blackberry puree and 2 teaspoons of sugar to it and mix well. Mound the flavored chocolate mixture on the chilled plate, and put it back in the freezer for another 10 minutes or so. When the chocolate is firm enough to shape, form it into 6 truffles and return them to the freezer until ready to use.

Rewarm the remaining chocolate on simmering water until it is warm to touch. Add the cocoa powder and egg yolks, and mix to combine. Transfer the egg whites to your mixer bowl and beat at medium speed until soft peaks form. Increase the speed to high, and continue beating as you gradually add the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar. Stop when you achieve glossy and stiff peaks. Add about one quarter of your beaten egg whites to the chocolate mixture and fold. Then add the remaining egg whites, and fold until blended. Divide half of the chocolate mixture among the 6 prepared cups. Press a truffle into each cup and cover with the remaining batter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator (I waited about an hour only, and it was fine).

Prehat the oven to 400F. Remove the plastic wrap and place the cups on a cookie sheet. Bake 12 or 14 minutes. Cakes will be slightly puffed but will still look a little soft and mushy. Take them out of the oven and let them rest for 3 minutes. Then run a knife around the sides of each cup and invert them onto serving plates. Enjoy!

[Inez] Happy Valentine's Day!

This was supposed to go up yesterday (whoops!). It didn't because I was too busy with another project, which I will show you very soon. In the mean time:

[Elise] Winter Break 2/3: Sarah's Birthday Cake

Now, I'll admit, I am not the best at cakes. I have made very few attempts at homemade cakes, in fact, I'm not sure I've ever flown solo baking one. I do, however, enjoy making box cakes. So, normally when I do, I stick to the directions, it comes out like it's supposed to, it's eaten and enjoyed. This January, however, my sister, Sarah, asked for a "Strawberry, funfetti, box cake, with pink frosting." And for some reason, I said "yes!"

The final cake ended up being a diabetics nighmare. Having searched in vain for strawberry extract, I settled on strawberry syrup. To make the cake have the right flavor, I replaced a half cup of water with the syrup, and being a box cake, there was no way I could simply remove some of the other sugar. I used pink sprinkles for the funfetti (i.e. fun confetti) but once the syrup was added, the white cake looked a sick pale purple. To correct this I added red food coloring, negating the pink flecks which were now just more unnecessary sugar. The cake baked fine, and still had decent texture. Luckily I had chosen a combination of not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting along with chocolate frosting for the surprise dog I was putting on top).

The final result was more fun to look at than to eat. But now I have a goal for next winter, to learn how to make a good cake from scratch, strawberry flavored with pink funfetti.

[Elise] Winter Break 1/3: Truffles

So my big contribution to the truffle/buckeye/chicken pot pie night was the truffles. The other two I was only around to eat and drool over. The truffles, as Inez mentioned earlier are a family recipe, given to me by my uncle. And while, yes, they are rediculously simple to make (but somewhat difficult to make pretty) I was still sworn to some relative secrecy at the age of 17 when I finally got the recipe (after all I've been told they have the power to make people fall in love with you... or at least in love with the truffles). The flavoring, however, is left to the discretion of the chocolatier, so this year I made my traditional pumpkin pie spice and a variety of liqueurs (in honor of having turned 21), the best of which was Chambord, making a delicious raspberry truffle.

So because Inez has already posted many of the 'making of' photos, I'll limit myself to mostly finished product pictures. This year was the first year I marked the flavor of the truffle using white chocolate.

Melted chocolate!

Truffles, just dipped




The final product, packed up and ready to ship out.

[Inez] Winter break: 3/3 (chicken pot pie)

Chicken pot pie. Takes forever. Delicious. No other explanation needed.

[Inez] Winter break: 2/3 (buckeyes)

For Christmas my family went to visit Ruby's relatives in Cleveland. Apparently they didn't make buckeyes when Ruby was a kid, but her sister Betsy has since adopted the Ohian tradition. We made SO MANY BUCKEYES but then they stayed in Cleveland, so I had to make more to take back to school with me. The recipe is no secret, so I can share it.

I started out mixing the peanut butter, butter, and confectioners sugar with the mixer, but eventually I got worried for the mixer and did it with a spoon...

...And then by hand.

These are ready to be frozen so that they can be dipped.

[Quasi] finito!

As promised, here's the recipe:

Buckeyes

1 lb peanut butter

1 stick + 1 tblspoon butter (softened)

1 lb confectioners sugar

1 package (or more) semisweet chocolate chips

• Mix peanut butter and 1 stick of butter. Gradually mix in confectioners sugar. 
• When completely combined, put wax paper or tin foil on a large cookie sheet. Separate into small chunks and roll into balls. Freeze for at least 1-2 hours.
  
• When the balls are frozen, melt chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon butter. With a toothpick, dip each ball into the chocolate. Let harden.

[Inez] Winter break: 1/3 (truffles)

Over winter break, Elise and I spent a day making delicious desserts (Elise - truffles; me - buckeyes). Also my mom Ruby and I (Elise I can't remember if you helped with this) made chicken pot pie. Below are some pictures from all three. Elise, I'm putting some up from your set as well because you're too slow.

I'd love to give you the recipe for Elise's truffles, but it's her great-uncle's or something like that, and she's been sworn to secrecy. They're pretty simple to make, but so delicious. This time around she made chocolate-pumpkin spice, chocolate-cherry, and orange-chocolate.

Making the filling.

One's hands get very messy when rolling out filling....

Melting chocolate for the shell.

Voila!

Hello!

I suppose I should begin by explaining a bit. I am Elise (left) and Inez (right) is a very dear friend. The two of us enjoy baking and cooking and making otherwise tasty treats as well as making pretty things out of yarn and fabric. Many of these projects we used to work on together, but since the start of college we seem to spend less and less time in the same city. That's where this blog comes in: as a way to easily share (and drool over) eachothers projects from far away. Perhaps along the way you'll stumble across this and we'll share with you too.

(As a side note, the cake in this picture is nothing more than a yellow box cake with chocolate frosting from a can, what I make for myself every year on my birthday. I still haven't found anything quite comparble in a comfort cake, reminds-me-of-my-childhood kind of way.)