Week 1 Links

1. Use your knowledge of place value to win the big prize.
Who Wants to be a Place Value Master?

2. Defeat pirates with what you know about place value.
Place Value Pirates

3. Use Base-Ten Blocks to figure out numbers!
Base-Ten Place Value

4. Compare really BIG numbers (This game has an ad!)
Compare Numbers Game

5. Put BIG numbers in order (This game has an ad!)
Order! Order!

6. Hit Home Runs while estimating to add, subtract, and multiply
Home Run Derby Math

7. Use your knowledge of addition and multiplication properties to pass the test
Pass the Test

Cakes I've Made

In the past few months I've had the opportunity to try my hands at making fondant covered cakes.

For Easter, I made an Easter Egg. On the inside was carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting molded into the shape of a half egg. I then cut various pastel colored fondants into shapes and patterns to resemble a decorated egg.

It's a little lopsided...It was one of my first attempts to make such a complicated shape...Here it is from the side...


For a birthday, I decided to make a computer programmer and fellow Mac person, a cake version of the Mac Logo.


I attempted to make a grey colored cake, but without wasting too much of the white fondant I had to make the black fondant lighter, I got this darkish grey instead. I was very pleased with the shape (I printed out a 6 inch version of the logo and used a 6 inch pan to get the right size).

On March 23, a baby named Luka was born. I may be biased...but he is probably the cutest baby ever! I made this cake to celebrate that day!


This was actually my first official fondant covered cake. I used a large yellow ribbon along the edges and a smaller blue ribbon to balance the size. I used various pastel colored circles (cut with different sized cuters) to decorate the cake. At the time of decoration, we were not sure if a girl or boy would be greeting us so I made it as gender neutral as possible.

Halloween

For Halloween this year, I was a chef. My boyfriend insisted that if my costume were going to be so lame (Huh?!?) I'd have to follow through and bring desserts. I also baked for the kiddies in school for our Halloween Scary Story party.

Here's a rundown of what I made. 

Mini-Halloween Whoopie Pies

courtesy of: www.marthastewart.com

I started receiving Martha's cookie of the day email in September, and had not had the chance to make anything specific from the newsletter until Halloween. The picture above is for the recipe, "Mini-Pumpking Whoopie Pies." Being that I know I have some very picky students (see: Snickerdoodles) I decided pumpkin would be too much for my students, so I opted to follow the recipe for the cookies, and use a whoopie pie filling from Cook's Illustrated. I dyed the frosting orange to go along with the Halloween 

theme. The cookies were very delicious. Ones that I did not fill were left over a few days later and got gobbled up for breakfast one morning. I love a cakey cookie and this one measured up (I also know it was a hit because each and every student gobbled it down). 

Brownie Coffins

courtesy of: www.Marthastewart.com

Another idea inspired by a cookie of the day email. The coffins are down at the bottom of the picture. I did not use the recipe that accompanied the picture, instead I opted to use the Truffle Brownie recipe from the cookie cookbook. 

The brownies were supposed to be baked in a springform pan, but I chose to double the recipe and bake it in a 13x9 inch glass pan. The brownies baked perfectly. I then freestyle cut each brownie into the shape of a coffin. The brownies were not uniform, and because of the texture of the brownie, were very crumbly. This recipe made a lighter, less dense brownie tha

t almost seemed to deflate.  I then made the ganache topping. I'm not sure if it was laziness or poor quality chocolate, but the ganache was less than spectacular. It was thin and never really set. 

I then used white chocolate to make the outline, and a cross in the center. 

The overall brownie and design were okay. My presentation got lazy, due to my exhaustion, but they were a hit at the party. The taste of the brownies was great. I anticipate making this recipe again, following the recipe to the T. 

Brain Cupcakes

courtesy of: www.marthastewart.com

I loved receiving the cookie of the day email, especially during October, because it had a lot of great ideas for Halloween. Above is another email that inspired me for Halloween.

I did not follow the recipe at all from this email. I used the idea, and the picture to bake my own concoction. I used another Cook's Illustrated recipe for red velvet cupcakes for the base of my cupcake. I added extra red coloring to really punch up the Halloween factor.

I used canned vanilla frosting (I know, the horror!) and dyed it a greyish pink using peach and green food coloring. I piped the brains using a pastry bag. This was actually extremely easy. I piped a ball in the center, two straight lines, and then squiggled on each side. Who knew a brain was so simple to make. 

The look of these cupcakes was amazing. It was the first time I can really say I hit the mark in presentation and had a cupcake that resembled the picture and the idea. I'm thinking of making them again for my students before a big test to remind them to use their brains. 

The taste was "eh." Everyone at the party was raving. But I'm hyper critical and too particular so I was not pleased with the canned frosting at all. Clearly, it was a time saver, but next time, I will take the extra time and use a fresh buttercream.

The good news about my "lame" costume was, that when we arrived to the party, someone asked "Wait, are you a friend of so-and-so, or are you the caterer?" 

Lemon Tassies

courtesy of: www.marthastewart.com

To be honest, I know I made these cookies, I just don't remember them at all. Probably not a sign that they blew me away or that they were terrible. I do recall not having an easy time with the crust or filling. The cookies definitely did not turn out like the picture. Next time, I think I'll have to pay more attention. 

Apple-Cherry Crumble Bars

courtesy of: www.marthastewart.com

I had wanted to make these cookies for quite awhile. I kept expecting them to use fresh apples, and every time I had apples on hand, I had to remind myself that I needed dried apples. When I finally made a trip to Trader Joe's and bought the dried apples I was finally able to make a wonderful fall cookie. 

The sweetness of the apples paired with the tartness of the cherries was a great mixture. The cookies reminded me of a great oatmeal, minus the sogginess. The name was also true. These cookies were crumbly. Cutting them was useless because they fell into pieces in the container. That didn't matter however. 

I am still curious if fresh apples would be possible in this recipe. I think I would have to make a sturdier crust to withhold the liquid of the apples. Fresh apples are easier to come by, cheaper, and do not require an extra step at some factory so I would love getting to use them instead. 

Grammy's Chocolate Cookies

courtesy of:www.marthaswtewart.com

I was in the mood to bake. Stress or the craving for chocolate had come over me. I was looking for an easy recipe to make, that my not picky, but particular boyfriend would also eat. We decided on these. I was also quite pleased because I had finally come across sanding sugar and was able to use it in a recipe. 

These cookies were irresistible. I'm pretty sure I devoured them myself in a few short days. They tasted exactly like the Archway Dutch Cocoa cookies my best friend and I were obsessed with in high school. I love baking a homemade cookie and having it bring back taste memories. 

This recipe was also extremely easy to make. Next time I'm noshing for those Dutch Cocoa's I don't need to travel farther than my cupboard to mix up a batch. 

Pistachio Lemon Drops

courtesy of: www.marthastewart.com

These cookies were chosen because of the fact that I happened to have pistachios on hand that no one was eating. I put the recipe together, baked the cookies, and tried a few. Let me start by stating that I'm not sure if my brown sugar was still good, it is possible it had gotten stale in the container I was using. However, these cookies were not palatable. 

The crumble of the cookie was similar to that of a meringue, where it melted immediately in your mouth. Sometimes this is a good texture, other times, when nuts are mixed  in, and sugar does not dissolve properly, the taste just does not sit well. Neither of us enjoyed these cookies, and they sat in an airtight container for quite awhile. I was hoping I would have the urge to bake a pie, or bar cookie with a crust that I could use the crumbled cookies for (I think they would be delicious for this use) but I never did, and the cookies ended up in the trash.

Cream-FIlled Chocolate Sandwiches

courtesy of: www.simplyliving.blogspot.com

I can start by saying when these cookies cooled and were filled, I wanted nothing to do with them. They tasted too sweet and actually hurt my teeth to bite into. Being that there was butter in the icing, I refrigerated the cookies to prevent the icing from turning. That's when things changed.

I have made a variety of different cream-filled cookies from different recipes, and they have all been good, but have never come close to rivaling a certain famous store bought brand. Martha's recipe, once refrigerated, were a dead ringer for that oh so famous brand. The texture of the cookies matched, the chocolate taste was just right, and the icing was as lickable as I could hope for. 

Therefore, the only addition, or change to the recipe, would be the suggestion to refrigerate the cookies. I'm not sure if a day in an air-tight container at room temperature would have resulted with the same taste. 

Snickerdoodles

courtesy of: www.eatmedelicous.com

First and foremost, it has been forever since I've had the chance to update. School has consumed me, and on the weekends I have been busy. Today is the first real lazy day I have gotten.

I'm going to go back in time, and relive what I've baked in the last two months from the book. The pictures I am posting are not my own pictures, I have found them on other blogs, or Martha's website. Hopefully, I will be more persistent in taking the pictures myself.

Snickerdoodles: I made these cookies for our classes first team reward lunch back in September. I assumed that children would love a cinnamon sugar cookie and being that I have made all the chocolate chip varieties in the book, I wanted something different. I loved these cookies, my co-teacher and other colleagues loved these cookies. My students however, were not so pleased. Two refused to take one, one ate the whole thing, and another took one bite and threw it out. At that point I realized brownies or chocolate chip cookies were all their tiny taste buds could handle. 

The cookies were very cake-like, which was a pleasant surprise. They stayed moist and chewy, despite not being around for long. I loved the spiciness of the cinnamon, it was just the right amount. Definitely a cookie worth making again. I'm thinking they will be perfect for my annual Holiday cookie gift boxes. 

New York Style Crumb Cake

I know what you're thinking. "This isn't a cookie, and it's certainly not from Martha's cookie book." Once in awhile, the situation demands I deviate from my goal of cookie domination.

This Saturday, we had visitors whose two favorite desserts that I make are strawberry shortcake and crumb cake. I recently made the shortcakes, so this time around it was the crumb cakes turn. I've made this recipe a few times before so I knew it was a successful dish.

I doubled the recipe in order to have enough for dessert that evening and to send home with our visitors. The recipe doubles really well and cooks great in a 13x9 inch pan. The recipe suggests spending the time to roll the crumbs into pea sized balls, which I did the first time I made the recipe. However, I've found that just crumbling the topping haphazardly onto the cake looks just as pretty and covers the cake more successfully.

The only change I might add the next time is bumping up the spices in the crumb topping. I would like a stronger cinnamon taste as well as an addition of something like nutmeg.

Here's another shot of the aerial view of the cake.

Lemon (Lime) Madeleines

Despite all of my baking experiences in the last two years and my absolute joy for eating baked goods, I have never made or even tasted a Madeleine. With my journey through Martha's book always in the front of my mind, a few weeks ago while shopping for new knives I picked up my first Madeleine pan.

Let me first address why these Lemon Madeleines are actually a hybrid lemon-lime cookie. The obvious answer, is as usual I decided on making a batch of cookies without checking on my supplies. I had half a lemon and one and a half limes. So for the two tablespoons of lemon zest, it ended up being 1/2 a tablespoon of lemon zest and the remaining lime zest. The two tablespoons of juice was easier, and I was somehow able to squeeze it all out of that one half of lemon.
Also, being that I am still in the process of stocking my shelves, I did not have the cake flour required for the recipe. Thanks to Lennie on Recipezaar, I was able to find a substitute for cake flour (1 Tbsp. of cornstarch per 1/2 cup of all purpose flour). http://www.recipezaar.com/87689

I was excited to make the cookie, but entirely clueless on how to properly mix and bake a Madeleine. It does not fit into traditional cookie formulas, and recalling a scene from The Transporter, I was quite hesitant and worried.

The first batch (which I should have taken a picture of) were slightly smaller than they should have been, so the second batch I was much more generous with. The cookies looked like I had expected them to but I'm still curious about the taste.

The lemon lime mixture adds a sweet citrus taste, but the sponge-y almost dry texture of the cookie has me wondering if I overmixed, undermixed, or baked too long.

The true test to my new pan, the future of my baking Madeleines, and my questions about the texture of the cookie, will all be answered when I attempt the Orange Cardamom version in the future.



P.S. I went to Magnolia near Columbus Circle today for the first time. Delicious!!! Definitely worth all the hype!

Double Chocolate Coconut Cookies

Luckily for the plethora of coconut inspired cookies within Martha's collection my dad was in town again last weekend. While I abhor coconut and avoid it at all costs my father loves the fruit, therefore I cooked up this batch.
I followed the recipe exactly for a change and made the suggested yield of 5 dozen cookies. They looked delicious and yet I couldn't bring myself to try one.
My father, grandmother, and mother all exclaimed that they were delicious. My boyfriend couldn't tell that coconut was included in the cookie, which I assume is a nice thing, but still could not convince me to try one. He also commented that the cookies were crumbly, and then proclaimed that they were "nothing out of the ordinary."

I also made the Double Chocolate Brownies again, this time in mini muffin pans so that they would resemble the popular supermarket two-bite brownies to bring to a movie in Bryant Park. This recipe continues to be versatile and delicious. The only complaint is that coarse salt often provides a bite that is too salty. Next time I make this recipe, I will switch to regular table salt.

Until the next batch,

Alissa

Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Another winner from Martha's collection.

First...the changes I made to the recipe. I only had about 1/3 of a package of semisweet chocolate chunks (not the best-quality the recipe suggested, but good enough nonetheless) so I made the chocolate a hodgepodge of the bits I had laying around including milk and bittersweet. Also, I used a smaller ice cream scoop than suggested and was able to make an extra dozen to the yield of the recipe.

Second...the results. Gingerbread is always a cookie I enjoy because of it's chewiness and moistness mostly due to the addition of molasses. This cookie has all the delicious taste of a gingerbread cookie but the addition of chocolate makes this a recipe that does not simply draw on holiday memories, it can definitely be made at any time.
The mixture of chocolates was a wonderful surprise. Besides the surprise of each bite (some being sweeter or more bitter than others) the mixture also adds a great look to the cookie. No two bites look the same.
The size of the cookies is perfect. They aren't too big or too small, and the smaller size was not affected tremendously from the bake time. I actually had to bake the cookies for an additional minute or two past the suggestion in the book.

Overall, another great cookie. I just hope there are still some left for the guests tomorrow :)

Fresh Peach Drop Cookies and Chocolate Strawberry Thumbprints

Chocolate Strawberry Thumbprints



Taking into consideration that I just moved and have yet to fully stock my kitchen with all the necessary baking essentials (i.e. nuts) I had to find a recipe in Martha's book that consisted of ingredients I already had around the house.

My new stand mixer actually had difficulty mixing this batch of cookies because it was such a small batch, it couldn't quite get all the way to the bottom of the bowl. I refrigerated the cookies as suggested and began to roll the dough into balls. I was surprised by how tiny the balls of dough were, even when pressed with my thumb. Overall, while the yield for the recipe said three dozen, I was able to make 26 tiny cookies.

I was able to taste these cookies in each stage of its finish. The cookie alone is a dry, crumbly chocolate base due mostly to the large amount of cocoa powder in the dough. It was tasty, but not my favorite. With the addition of the tart cream cheese topping, the balance between bitter and slightly sour improved the taste of the cookie. Finally, the addition of the strawberries on top adding a wonderful sweet and cool texture to the cookie.

Next time, I'd most likely double to recipe to get larger cookies for a nice presentation and I would attempt a strawberry jam layer instead of the fresh strawberries for an ease of eating and simplicity that the fresh strawberries hinder.


Fresh Peach Drop Cookies



Delicious! I barely had enough cookies left to photograph because I could not stop eating them. The addition of fresh fruit and jam makes these cookies moist and irresistible. The only concern I have is that because of the moisture, these cookies are almost impossible to store. The break apart, stick to each other, and get mushy if left inside an airtight container (probably part of the reason I can't stop eating them is because I don't want them to go to waste).

I would love to try these cookies with nectarines or even plums, I assume the stone fruit aspect of these are interchangeable.

I highly recommend this batch.

Until next time,
Alissa