meringue kisses

(recipe from cookies, halved)

total haul: ~60
husbanded: none
net haul: ~60
bake time: overnight
notes: more dye!

cookies 'n cream cake

it remains unclear exactly WHO gave my BABY brother permission to turn eighteen, but there is one thing we do know: there was no road test.

whilst enjoying kevin's chocolate cake with coffee frosting in june, i asked leonardo what his preference would be. "well," he said after some consideration, "i can't ask for this again, so... something cookies 'n cream."


the body of the cake is comprised of two textures-- unfortunately this part needs some tweaking, but i'll get to that-- soft white cake and brownie. the frosting was a white "cream filling" butter cream, colored with wilton "white-white" and flavored with clear vanilla artificial flavoring. a bit of granulated sugar gave it that slightly gritty texture. wilton cookies n' cream sprinkles added, ummm, more cookiness. originally, the second texture was going to be a chocolate cookie, but the logistics were fuzzy and an obligation to school and my waistline prevented me from experimenting beforehand. so i did something possibly incredibly stupid: i left one egg out of the brownie layers hoping for a crumbly, cookie-like layer. this may be what propted anna to ask, "is this... toffee?" um, crumbly? not so much. imbued with a facinating tar-like quality might be closer to the mark.

everybody liked it though, especially greg, who ate twice as much as everyone else in a fraction of the time. boy, if you ever need to feel good about something you baked, call greg.

so, moving on...

brownie layer ingredients:

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 3/4 cups butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 (or 3) eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour

cake layer ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (softened to a mayonaise-like consistancy)
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup egg whites
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbs milk
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla flavoring

frosting ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tbs artificial (clear) vanilla
• liberal splash of "white-white" to preferred color
• about a tablespoon of milk

prep:

• warm everything up to room temp, or as specified
• grease 8" pans (or foil linings of said pans)
• preheat to 350*

actual cooking:

• nuke chocolate & brownie butter for 2 minutes
• stir until chocolate melts
• add sugar, eggs & vanilla
• add flour
• divide between pans
• bake for 25 minutes
• remove and cool
• preheat to 375*
• grease & flour pans
• combine dry cake ingredients
• add egg whites, vanilla, milk & butter
• beat until combined
• pour into two pans
• bake for 20 minutes
• remove and cool
• whip frosting butter until creamy
• SLOWLY add confectioner sugar
• add granulate sugar
• add vanilla flavoring & "white-white"
• add milk until desired consistancy is reached
• frost & decorate cake

happy



birthday

simba!

hearty banana muffins

this is a huge cheat of a recipe since the main ingredient is a banana bread mix. but, LO! some lady made a damn fortune writing books about making box cakes, so bear with me, k?

ingredients:

• banana bread mix (mine was trader joe's, naturally)
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup apple sauce
• 1/3 cup egg whites OR 2 large eggs

prep:

• none, this recipe takes ten minutes
• oh, and preheat to 325*

actual cooking:

• combine ingredients in a bowl
• spoon into lined muffin tin (i did 12 regular-sized muffins)
• bake for 30 minutes

the recipe on the box (with eggs & oil) makes nine servings at something like 370 calories each. my recipe make 12 at 175 each. good deal, right? plus, mine have way more fiber since neither eggs nor oil have fiber, but applesauce and oat sure do. but i didn't do that math.