Ahhhh.....the Sweet Taste of Victory

Sorry to all my faithful readers out there (all 3 of you). I have been slacking and haven't posted anything in awhile. Well, a girl has a right to take a break after a marathon, now doesn't she?

Ahhhh....the marathon. If you would have asked me within the last two miles of the marathon if I would ever want to do a marathon again I would have said, "Are you crazy?!!!!" But now it looks like tons of my friends and even the possibility of my freshman HS bball coach will run again next year and of course that means I have to run. Of course.

It truly was an amazing event. The crowds of people in NYC cheering us mere running mortals on was inspiring, uplifting, and just plain awesome! It was a party all the way until the end (although those last two miles all I could hear was my little running coach voice in my head saying, "Just keep running, just keep running!" in the Finding Nemo voice and "You're almost there!!!! Just keep running!!!!") My sister called later in the day and asked how I did. I set her up with, "I got a medal!" She said excitedly, "You did?!!!!" And I said with a devilish grin on my face, "Yep! Along with everyone else who finished." Ha!

But there IS one contest where I won. The Brownie from a Box vs. The Brownie from Scratch competition. It all started last year with the reception desk at my office debating which tastes better. We all were pretty sure the boxed version tasted better because we all have eaten some nasty homemade versions. Well, I volunteered to make some from scratch and Maggie said she would make some from a box. They had to be simple without extra fudge, peanutbutter, M&Ms etc in it. Well, I had never made brownies from scratch before and I was very intrigued to see what I could do. I researched them online and stumbled upon the NY Times Supernatural Brownie Recipe. Well, long story short....Maggie's brownies bombed and mine were truly supernatural. In a taste test mine won all the votes and the heart of my coworkers. I have made them numerous times after because of requests for the utterly splenderifc brownies. (Oh, and I didn't win a medal, but I did win a little McDonald's toy of a zebra on wheels. Woohoo!!!!)Supernatural Brownies

Recipe http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/dining/111brex.html?ex=1333944000&en=f42f6ec82e61834b&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup dark brown sugar, such as muscovado (Erika's Extra Note: light brown sugar works fine as well)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 3/4 cup whole walnuts, optional

1. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. (Erika's note: This recipe is so buttery I've never needed to use parchment paper.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla.

2. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. If using chopped walnuts, stir them in. Pour batter into prepared pan. If using whole walnuts, arrange on top of batter.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.

Yield: 15 large or 24 small brownies.

Note: For best flavor, bake 1 day before serving, let cool and store, tightly wrapped.

Bake well and prosper!!

Thank You, Off the Mark

I love comics. I love comics so much that my senior year of high school I wrote an essay about how everyone in the world should read the daily comics. It would make the world a better place.

Well, as a baker, I found this horribly wrong and deliciously funny.

Thanks for all the laughs Off the Mark! (In particular, this one:)
http://comics.com/off_the_mark/2009-11-12/

Go to comics.com for more.

Next blog: A great recipe for what to do when you have lots of eggs to use before they expire.

Bake well and prosper!

Pile o'cookies

So, I made the banana bread and froze some for my parents' arrival for the big marathon weekend. (Next entry I will recap the marathon, but for now, yes, I DID finish!) Also, I decided to make some cookies they have never had before - cherry garcia cookies.

Now, usually when I bake, I have music on. I've been known to make Beethoven brownies, Jesus Christ Superstar Trials and Tribulations Almond Joy Cake (long story...), and Black Eyed Peas cookies. This past time was no exception....I listened to a past time....Oldies. I LOVE Oldies. I'm talking about the 50s and 60s and early 70s. The golden oldies and the hippie oldies. I was serenaded by the Beatles while making these cookies. Oh, and so was my cookie dough.

So, if by now you haven't figured out that I am a dork, well, I am very concerned about you. And if by now you don't believe that I am messy, well, that is because I sometimes hide it from you. But, I will be fair and share. Exhibit A is a fine example of a mix of flour and sugar that I accidentally dropped on the floor instead of in the bowl. Notice how I slightly pushed it aside, but I knew vacuuming it would be futile until all baking was done. Exhibit B is a great example of why I don't clean up until finishing the assembly of the baked good's goodness (dough.) More sugar was dropped just shortly after the flour and sugar episode. Yeah, I am that helpless. And yes, this (plus more!) messiness happens every time I bake.

However, do not despair. The cookies turned out just fine.

Cherry Garcia Cookies (from http://homecooking.about.com/od/cookierecipes/r/blcookie32.htm with my own tips thrown in)

Ingredients:
1 cup dried cherries
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, (packed)
1 egg
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely-chopped macadamia nuts (optional) (I've never put these in and quite frankly think it might be overkill)

Preperation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place dried cherries in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit 30 minutes to plump up. Drain well, pat dry, and coarsely chop. (I don't chop. I think they are perfect while whole.)

Whisk together salt, baking soda, and flour in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Add flour mixture to butter mixture half at a time and mix until combined. Fold in cherries, white chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and macadamia nuts. Refrigerate cookie dough 30 to 45 minutes to firm up.

Drop dough by the tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets, placing cookies about 1-1/2 to 2 inches apart. Bake 12 to 14 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheets before removing to racks to cool completely.

Bake well and prosper!

Going Bananas

Ok kids! There is one more week to go until I do the incredibly crazy thing of running a marathon. NYC marathon to be precise. Two weeks ago I had to take a break from running due to a minor injury. After staying true to a marathon running plan for nearly four months, taking a break was making me go bananas. I had to fill the void of running with drinking, eating, and partying. I know......life is hard.

I am back on track and will be fine for the big 26.2 (with my right ankle wrapped in medical tape, that is.)

So, in honor of going bananas, this entry will salute banana bread. And I asked my furry friend, Sparkus the Tenor Cat, to help. (Because what's more proof of going bananas then pretending a stuffed animal is helping me bake? My thoughts precisely!)

Banana Bread

3 bananas (1 C mashed bananas)

1 C sugar

1/2 C shortening

2 eggs

2 C flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 t soda

3 T milk

Mash bananas; mix in 1/2 C sugar. Let stand 15 minutes. Cream shortening; add remaining 1/2 C sugar. Mix well. Beat in eggs. Add banana mixture. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add about 1/2 of flour mixture. Then stir in milk and soda, which have been mixed together. Then stir in remaining flour. Bake in 1 large or 2 small loaf pans at 325 degrees for 45-60 minutes (depending on pans.) (Pretty much....if you stick a sharp knife in the middle and it comes out with batter on it, keep cooking. Banana bread will trick ya! It will look done on the outside WAY before it is done on the inside. Have patience.)

Erika's Extra Notes: I enjoy adding chocolate chips, nuts, or frozen blueberries into banana bread to give it more of a zing/flavor. I also like to add brown sugar on top with about 15 minutes left to bake (as seen below in picture. Right half normal banana bread, left half with chocolate chips because sometimes you feel like a chip, and sometimes you don't.)

Bake well and prosper!

Mixed Messages

I am currently on the 13th week of my 16th week training program for the NYC marathon. It's my first marathon to do which means that I try to fit in a run anywhere in my crazy schedule of being an opera singing, church going, basketball playing, hedge fund working, social butterfly. On Tuesdays I usually run home from work.

Well, last Tuesday I realized I needed to pick up a couple things from the grocery store for the impromptu cookie "party" that I decided to host. While walking the three blocks home from the store I realized that I was a type of walking contradiction. A type of mixed message, if you will.

I don't use plastic bags whenever I can help it, and seeing I only needed three things I decided to just carry them in my hands. There I was glowing (aka sweating) in my running gear carrying chocolate chips, chocolate cake mix, and a box of margarine. This made me laugh to myself. "What do passerbys think of this?" I wondered. Maybe that I ran so I wouldn't feel guilty about eating sweets? Ha! Well, they obviously don't know me. Remember....life's too short to skip dessert.......even if one had to skip a training run.

So, about my cookie "party". Ever since I started making chocolate chip cookies all by myself (fifth grade perhaps?) I've been known for my cookies. All the way from TX to NYC, my friends love these things. Last Tuesday, an opera singer friend of mine posted on my FB wall, "Cookies soon?" So, I decided that I'd make them that night. Unfortunately he forgot he had rehearsal and had to bail. But not to fear my fellow readers! My great friend Nick came to help eat the cookies. I am quite happy to report that he had them for dinner along with some of the dough. That's my type of man! Dessert first!

And now for the recipe.....straight from the cookbook my mom made for her children many years ago for Christmas. Now you too can be known for your cookies. (Just remember the special ingredients of love and fanatical devotion to desserts. Oh, and also....remember to talk to the cookies!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 stick of margarine/butter (I find that margarine will make them softer. Yum!)
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 egg well beaten
1 cup and 2 Tablespoons of flour (I use white)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla (use the real thing....imitation vanilla is a poser!)
1/4 teaspoon of warm water (DO IT! TRUST ME!)
6 oz of semi sweet chocolate chip morsels (Personally, I'm a Nestle girl.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix margarine, sugars, and egg together until margarine chunks are quite small and well beaten. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together and then stir until well mixed. Add vanilla and then mix. Water and then mix. And then add in the chocolate chips last. Place dollops of dough on cookie sheet with plenty of room between each dollop. Bake 8-10 minutes.
Erika's Extra Notes: To get very lovely and soft cookies, take out of oven when they are still fluffy/slightly uncooked looking. They will cook more while cooling. If baking two sheets at once, make sure to switch the top to the bottom and vice-versa half way through baking.

Last little bit for the blog for now....I just typed up this recipe whilst on the subway. From memory. That's how many times I have made these cookies. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Bake well and prosper!