French Bread

I have made bread several times before, both by hand & with a standing mixer, so I wasn't too intimidated by this month's recipe. The directions were very detailed, but quite simple. The hardest part was kneading the dough. It wasn't difficult, but required patience. Overall I was quite pleased with the way the bread turned out, but I do wish it was a little more airy. It was quite tasty either way.

I am out of town at my sister's wedding & forgot the cord for my camera, so I can't download pictures. I will add pictures later.

My First Lemon Meringue Attempt

I am not a fan of lemon meringue pie in general. I don't like custards & the filling is a custard. I don't like meringue & obviously there is quite a lot of meringue. The process was enjoyable, however, & I got rave reviews for the pie itself (I wasn't going to eat it nor was I going to throw it away). Overall the baking went without incident. I was a little nervous as I was rolling out the crust. It seemed crumbly & dry, but once it was in the pie plate it worked beautifully. I'm happy to say my first (and possibly my only) attempt at lemon meringue pie was a success. See for yourself.

The crust started simply enough. Cutting the butter into the flour.







This is where I started getting nervous. It just seemed really dry. It wasn't forming a ball like my pie crust typically does.









I used black beans as my weight for baking the pie crust. It worked really well.








Baked pie shell. It looked & smelled absolutely delicious!









The shell as it cooled. I think it looked quite pretty with a simple fluting around the edges.








The egg mixture as I slowly added some of the heated ingredients.









Back on the stove to thicken.









Poured into the crust. It almost looks good enough to eat.









The meringue is almost ready.









Into the oven goes the pie.









Some of the peaks got a little too brown, but I think it looks beautiful!









The first slice.









It's not perfect looking, but considering I wasn't using a pie server, it came out pretty nicely.

The Promised Pictures

Here is the step-by-step process it took to complete the Yule Log. I have pictures of making the mushrooms, but uploading all the pictures is rather time consuming & I don't have the patience. But there are plenty of other pictures to look at since it was a multi-step, multi-recipe project.










All the pretty ingredients getting ready to sift several times.










Items to be mixed & heated.









Ingredients being heated.









Whipping the ingredients to create the light & fluffy consistency required for a genoise.










Folding in the chocolate.









Baked to perfection and...









rolled to cool.









Mmmmm...raspberry filling (I was on the phone while Stephanie made this, so we don't have photos of the process).










Almost done.












Making buttercream.












Turning buttercream into chocolate buttercream.












Done.

The Yule Log Chronicles

To say December had been a busy month would be an understatement. At the outset of the month it seemed that this was going to be a quiet, slow holiday season. But as the month progressed my activity increased & my sleep decreased. The month started out with a whirlwind weekend trip back to the Big Apple for the Lingos film festival. I took the red-eye arriving at a very early 6:30am. I was supposed to leave Sunday evening, but due to a snow storm the flight was canceled & I got an extra day in the city (shucks!).

My friend, Brook, traveled back to Arizona with me Monday night & we threw a Haul Out the Holly Party on Tuesday to decorate my house for the holidays. We left Wednesday afternoon to road trip up to St. George, UT via Chandler, Sedona, the Grand Canyon & Las Vegas. Brook stayed with her sisters in Utah & I returned home on Sunday, December 9th.

Then it was all systems go for parties, get-togethers, shopping, visits & other holiday preparations (not to mention day-to-day activities like work & laundry). There was a week which I never got more than 4 hours of sleep a night for 7 days in a row. I left again on Friday, December 21st to go to Salt Lake to visit my parents for Christmas. I returned to my sister's house in Chandler on Christmas afternoon. That's when I finally had time to create my yule log. Since she & I are both Daring Bakers we decided to make the cake together.

We had made the meringue mushrooms the previous Friday before I flew up to Salt Lake, but waited until Christmas Day to make the Genoise, raspberry filling & chocolate buttercream. It ended up rather spectacularly & got many comments by Stephanie's husband about the realistic mushrooms. It also tasted spectacular. So it was a win-win all around (except for the fact that it was a couple days late). I am also having problems uploading pictures, so I'll post them separately with play-by-play action of the making, assembly & production of the yule log.

January is looking less hectic, so the posting will be on time this month.

The Beginning of Beautiful Things

My sister, Stephanie, has convinced me to join an online bakers club. As a result I had to set up a blog. I'm a little nervous about the time commitment involved in baking a specific item once a month. Those who know me realize that I am all about moods...what am I in the mood to eat...what am I in the mood to watch...etc. It is an exciting prospect to bake something that is being baked in kitchens all around the world & to share stories & pictures. I hope the adventures will be as fulfilling as the chocolate peanut butter birthday cake I made for Ty. It was a stroke of genius & pure indulgence. This should be the beginning of beautiful things.