TWD: Caramel Crunch Bars Continued....

Alright I can never ever make these again. They are just too fantastic... I could have eaten the whole lot of them. Sniffer on the fritz or not...

TWD: Caramel Crunch Bars

This weeks recipe was chosen by Whitney of What's left on the table? The title is a little confusing because theres no caramel to be found. But the description promises "a caramel-sweet brown sugar cookie" a cosmic sugar rush and a massive dental bill...

These just came out of the oven as we speak and I think my sniffer is on the fritz because I can barely smell them. My honey said it smell-uhm-gooood... well they sure sound good but don't smell like anything.

I didn't have any toffee bits in the pantry so I subbed in some mini heath bars that I whacked with a mallet. I think I should have been a little less conservative about the toffee beat down because I melted them and milk chocolate chips on the top and the chunks are way too big and look a little odd. Ahh well should be tasty anyway ;) Hopefully if I can get them to cool down I will slice some and get to take a picture....

Linda's Mini-Van

This was allot of fun to make for my friend at work to surprise her mother in law this weekend. She was nice enough to stay up late so I could drop this off at her house last night around 11:30! Geesh that's late, I'm supposed to be on vacation today so I didn't want to head back to work to bring it to her thankfully she was excited to see it so she was willing to stay up for me. If you want to see more of the details of this cake clickity click here.

TWD: Must toast marshamallows....

There no way in Hades that I would top this delicious devils food cake with luscious marshmallow whip and not toast it....besides nothing beats torching cupcakes at 8pm.

I made cupcakes out of the Devils Food White-out cake recipe chosen this week by Stephanie at Confessions of a City Eater. You should check out her blog, I don't think that girl has a meal without a camera around. And either she eats at some seriously tasty digs or she is a fantastic photographer, but I suspect its a little of both.

Anyhoo back to the cake...err cupcakes. I only made a dozen cupcakes (I should auction them off to the highest bidder at work). Though it seems most of the TWD peeps skipped the filling for one reason or another I gave it a whirl and then toasted the results. Very good indeed.

Jane & The Dragon

I made this cake last weekend for my nieces 1st Birthday. The theme she wanted for her cake (yeah she told me herself, in between the drooling....) was her most favorite show Jane & The Dragon. Well we all know 1st birthdays are really to celebrate the parents surviving their first year and the babester will nary remember the event. A little elaborate but nothing compared to her baby shower cake in regards to time and effort, a cake which still remains one of my favorites to this day.

This was made of numerous layers of our favorite chocolate cake filled with dark chocolate french butter cream. Covered and textured in gray fondant and decorated with edible images of characters from the show. It was supposed to look like the top of a castle turret that was peeking through the clouds. It was a bitch to photograph so I only hope that her mom got better photos that I did, I even forgot to take a picture of the back! The cake was devoured which makes me super happy to have empty plates...test of a job well done.

Bake Along: Cookie Jenga

After an exhausting few days I find peace in baking... or in eating... take your pick.....

I got to choose this time round and picked the Vanilla Malted Cookies. I opted for the uber fancy Pulgra butter which has a higher fat content but then hopefully balanced things out with the gods by using light cream cheese which is probably way better for you but wow is it an odd consistency...it's like a white hunk of velveta.

Anyhoo these were fricken-fan-tastic way better than I expected. I wasn't ready for the moist chewy consistency, I was expecting crunchy. I didn't have too much trouble with piping them out but I did go with a giant 829 tip instead of trying to squeeze this thick batter out of something smaller which I think would have been nearly impossible after reading the stories from the other bakers.

Head on over to see how the other bake-a-longers did with theirs... Judy added chocolate ovaltine, Natalie rolled hers and Megan sprinkled hers with turbanado sugar. Jenny went the chocolate route as well and I think April was going to bake some too but I don't see them on her blog yet....

Aww bugger....

My honey got admitted to the hospital last night so no bake along for me....
I will make them this weekend though for sure, cuz nothing says get better like some buttery cookies!

Thank you guys for your well wishes, the hubster is fine. Unfortunately he had this heart attack 2 years ago due to some rare blood disorder, he's only 44. Anyhoo since he's susceptible to such things they over exaggerate and kept him for two days in the hospital. Thankfully all is well but now my arse hurts from sitting around waiting with him ;)

YWP: Poison Apple Tart

No it doesn't really have poison in it....just apples... and sugar and buttery crustiness.....

The Literary theme for this months You Want Pies with That? shake down was chosen by Mary the Food Librarian. A pie inspired by the mountains of knowledge and entertainment found within the pages of books.

I read allot....more than the average schmo probably. But it was still hard for me to think of something that could be translated into a pie. I'm convinced that I'm just not particularly creative. My tendency to over think quickly turns into procrastination which then turns into something simplified. I decided to use Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and go with apple pie, but mostly because I really wanted apple pie, not because its my favorite book or anything. Besides just look at that girl... why the hell would anyone take an apple from that crazy witch, the bitch is clearly up to no good.













Super simple tart made with a butter crust layered with granny smith apples tossed with sugar and a little cinnamon. Served with a scoop of Trader Joe's Plain Tart Frozen Yogurt. [Side note: If your at all fan of Pinkberry and you have a TJ's near by you must try this immediately.] The super tart yogurt paired nicely with the sweet mellow apple tart.

Bake Along: Vanilla Malted Cookies

I've been wanting to make Vanilla Malted Cookies since I got my hand on this great little book. I don't know if its because of the malt or because they look sorta like churros. I love a good churro and even with the visual similarity I doubt these are anything like them and they are destine to be better....

If you want to join us you can find the recipe on page 149 of Martha Stewart's Cookies. If you don't have the book Megan was nice enough to post it on her site here. After you post let us know so we can see how yours turned out.

TWD: World Peace Cookies

The recipe this week for Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Jessica from cookbookhabit. Ha! maybe we should get her to join in on the bake alongs because it seems she has a crazy big cookbook collection too!

Anyhoo back to the cookies... World Peace Cookies on page 138. In short they are so named because one of Dories neighbors believed that a daily dose of these cookies "....is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness."

They are good and super duper chocolaty but I'm not certain they are world peace worthy, though some of the guinea pigs at work might agree.... I could have gone for a bit more saltiness in mine even up to a whole tsp of fluer de sel instead of the 1/2 recommended in the recipe. Or even use of the kosher salt would have been better because it would get that bite of salt I enjoy that this was missing.