Goodbye.

Had an AH-MAZING time! 

At the beginning of this crazy journey, I quoted Socrates: "All I know is that I know nothing."Well adding to that original list of:
Not knowing how to blog, loving to bake and being slightly crazy...
I wanted to add all that I learned through this process:
First, that my body cannot physically handle that much butter and sugar in such a short time span.
Second, how much I could get by on my own, for I had to learn how to temper eggs and make a water bath, all by myself (with a little help from my wonderful mother)
Third, that all of those cheesy encouragment lines that you hear as a kid, like "You can do anything you put your mind to," or "Hard work pays off" are all true. (Que: awwww)

Good Times....not. I hated that meringue

Probs favorites!!

TIRAMISU!!

BUTTER. Just had to add this in here, of course.

So thanks to all of those people who stumbled across this blog and read the title, before moving on and a super duper thanks to people who actually read and were interested in my journey, which probably consisted of my english teacher and MYP mentor. Thanks you two!! Just kidding, seriously thanks to all of those people out there that just glanced at this story. I'll miss you, keep on baking, I know I will! "Don't be sad it's over, be glad that it happened." (Even though I know you'll miss my crazy times in the kitchen and adorable anecdotes, but I'll miss y'all) Okay I'm really done now, bye guys.

V is for Vanilla Souffle

So when I was little, I specifically remember watching some french cartoon, like Madeline or Babar and one character tried to make a souffle. It came out perfectly, but then someone sneezed and it instantly deflated, just like that. Ever since then, I swore off making this difficult recipe, convinced that I would ruin it. Well of course this project has made me test my boundaries for sanity, so, to go out with a bang, I scheduled to make a non-traditional VANILLA souffle for my last dessert. 

Copied from Wikipedia....A soufflé (French: [su.fle]) is a lightly baked cake made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savory main dish or sweetened as a dessert.Every soufflé is made from two basic components:

1. a French crème pâtissière base/flavoured cream sauce or purée
2. egg whites beaten to a soft peak meringue

A souffle is usually chocolate and just conjures up french lusty dreams, but when I came across this unusual vanilla souffle, it was so out of the box I just HAD to try it. 

A traditional souffle, mine wasn't as puffy :(

Now this recipe was from the Teens Cook Dessert, so obviously it is watered down to basics. But it did require me to make a water bath. WHAAAAA???!?!?! Yeah. That was my reaction until I realized how easy and effective it was. This is just one example of how this project has broadened my personal skill set and also opened my eyes to have more respect for pastry chefs. 

Adding in the water!! 

Everyone loved it, it was light and the dark chocolate sauce added the perfect amount of savory-ness (is that a word?) and bitterness to balance it out. Awesome way to go out with a bang and an awesome crowd pleaser. A definite must in my recipe book. 

Until next ti-....AHH i guess not, guys its my last dessert post :( So keep on showing off those sweet teeth and NEVER forget to ask "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from page 132 in Teens Cook Dessert

S is for Strawberry Shortcakes

Yup. Strawberry Shortcakes. What a classic. So easy and so delicious. Everyone loves it, including people dating all the way back to Shakespeare's time, for shortcakes was mentioned in his play, The Merry Wives of Windsor. We don't know when strawberries and shortcakes were put together to become what we know today as an all American classic, but we do know that around 1850, Americans would use this dessert to represent the coming of summer. And the rest is history. 

Sifting flour!

I don't know what genius decided to put a buttery biscuit and light fresh strawberries together, but if I could have met him/her, I would have kissed his/her feet in respect. Strawberries Shortcakes are just the bomb, they even made a freaking doll out of it!!! I mean come on that has to add some legitimacy to this once lowly dessert. 

Vintage Strawberry Shortcake doll

Gotta knead and roll, knead knead and roll (I should make a song out of that!)

So yeah if you couldn't already tell, I really like strawberry shortcakes. I think it's because it was actually one of the first desserts I made, now that I think about it. I remember my sister and mom in the kitchen making biscuits, I wanted to help, so they let me cut out the dough and stir the sugar and strawberries. That happened when I was little, during the summer and this dessert just perfectly encompasses all of those warm fuzzy feelings when thinking about summer, or your childhood, or bonding with family, even to this day. 

Mmm good! What a perfect second to last dessert! Until next time, show off those sweet teeth and don't forget to ask "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from page 92 in Teens Cook Dessert 

E is for Eclairs

So yeah, if you haven't read the O is for Oreo Cupcakes post, read it first then come back to this one.

Right now you're probably wondering, Why is that person dipping the eclair into the custard? Well you shouldn't because, I stated in my last post that the custard didn't thicken up well. This means that you didn't follow my above directions, well then. Anyways the custard didn't come together like it was supposed to, I don't think I simmered it long enough, forcing us to pour it into cups and dip our eclairs into. But that was only one of the many problems I faced with this recipe. 

It should have been fairly easy, but I baked the shells first, then the recipe said to turn the oven off and let the shells dry out as the oven cools off. But me, being frazzled, trying not to butcher these recipes, turned  the oven back on to preheat to 350 degrees for the cupcakes, totally forgetting about the shells. This made them more cardboard-y and less flaky, like I wanted. 

Me trying to find humor in the bag of gooey custard...

Also, while trying to finish up the cupcakes and find a replacement for the missing frosting ingredients, the chocolate topping totally slipped my mind. I had to make it quite frantically before the cupcakes came out of the oven, and recruited my sister's boyfriend into spreading the topping over the eclairs. As you can see, baking is his true calling. Just kidding, I really appreciated his help. 

My guests "enjoying" my "delicious" desserts

Well there you have it, I bit off more than I could chew, again....But I'm probably going to make more mistakes like this in the very near future, just you wait. (I mean I'm a teenager, we make mistakes left and right, gimme a break) 

Well until next time, show off those sweet teeth and don't forget to ask, "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from  page 46 in Teen Cookbook  

O for Oreo Cupcakes

Oops I did it again. Hey guys, now that we are about to end this journey, I'd just like to tell you that of course these last few recipes had to be stressful. So to go out with a (semi) bang, I wanted to make two of my three last desserts, (Oreo cupcakes and Eclairs), for a dinner party that my mom hosted. I got all the recipes, read through them thoroughly ( I swear) and gathered all the correct ingredients. Little did I know my impending doom that would come later that night, because I stupidly chose to go somewhere with my friends instead of prepare my desserts early, (I know crazy to choose my friends of my desserts, WHAAA?!?!). Knowing full well that my mom would be in full fledged cooking mode, taking up the entire kitchen, when I came back.
I don't think you will be surprised when I say, that I forgot cupcake liners, and had to drive to Publix to get some, the custard wouldn't thicken, and I almost burned the eclair shells. This pressure and stress almost sent me over the edge, like the the unspeakable Meringue incident, if it weren't for all the guests rooting for me, I woulda flipped out again.

P.S. my camera also broke in the middle of it, so I had to used some process pictures from the website that I got the recipe from, like the above picture. HA you thought I took that?

Just like this picture, I crumbled some of the oreos, but left the other half whole. But as you pour the batter in, all of the Oreos float to the top. I personally like the crumbled up oreo ones, because it gave you a surprise and the cupcake wasn't so dense.

Oh yeah and I forgot to buy the ingredients to make the frosting so....As you can see it was one of those "Really?!" kinda days. Even without the icing, though, the guests, who were family friends, said that it would have been too sweet with the icing. But I know that they were just being nice. 

So until next time, which will be soon since I have to do the Eclair post, show off those sweet teeth and dont' forget to ask "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from http://www.bakerella.com/cookies-and-cream-cupcakes/

P.S. This blog is so cute!

F is for Flourless Chocolate Cake

This my friends was another picture perfect recipe that was fairly easy, even though the title was pretty daunting. I'm sitting in my bed right now looking at these pictures and it's making my stomach grumble. I'm cravin' this lil' baby, because it would be a perfect midnight snack right about now. 

A flourless chocolate cake, also known as a molten cake,  is made with whole egg foam using low heat to form a kinda of thick chocolate custard. Many gluten-free eaters look to this recipe to satisfy their chocolate cake cravings. Jean-Georges Vongerchten and his restaurants  was known to popularize this dessert.

This was definitely a crowd pleaser, because the consistency was, for lack of better word, fudgy. It was kinda gooey, but still had a crispy crust, like a mix between a brownie outside, fudge lightness, and chocolate cake taste. The cocoa powder create an illusion of daintiness, but the taste packed a punch and it was also perfectly complemented by a heavenly scoop of ice cream. 

So until next time, show off those sweet teeth and don't forget to ask "What's for dessert?"

Recipe from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Flourless-Chocolate-Cake-14478 

C is for Caramelized Banana Split with Hot Chocolate Sauce

I made this recipe for my dad's birthday. It's from epicurious.com and the picture looked like a crowd pleaser, and just the title drew me in and teased me to make it.
A traditional banana split consists of three scoops of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry) on a 
halved banana, topped off with chocolate, marshmallow, nuts, whipped cream, and a cherry. Yummo!

The Banana Split was invented by David Evans Strickler, a 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist at Tassel 
Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and soon became an american classic.


For the letter "C", I originally wanted to do a coconut cake, which I also planned to make for my dad's birthday because he loves coconut. But the only recipes I could find had many steps and too many weird ingredients

We only had enough bananas for this recipe. To ensure that they would not be eaten I wrote a note stating "No touchie. I need them for recipe." It turned out to be very effective, no one ate them :D

I am actually not a huge fan of banana and this recipe made them kinda gooey after they were cooked. Some people might like that texture, like my dad, but, to me, this recipe didn't live up to my expectations.
But my dad loved it and said it tasted like bananas foster, which is one of his new favorites. Glad to make ya proud pop!

P.S. This recipe was also kinda stressful because there was a lot going on; I forgot about walnuts and had to frantically toast them last minute, then the bananas got gooey and cold, the ice cream melted, and I didn't wanna burn chocolate
Recipe from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Caramelized-Banana-Splits-with-Hot-Chocolate-Sauce-240583
Until next time, put those sweet teeth to work and don't forget to ask "What's for dessert?"