Keeping up with the blog has become virtually impossible with how crazy busy I am with school…so I got a tumblr! Everything can be done from my phone and is super quick. Now my brief moments of quiet in between classes and on the train can be filled with posts! Click here (
http://abakersadventures.tumblr.com/
) and follow me!
See you there!
It’s Cookie Week in class! It’s been a ton of fun, and we’ve gotten to make so many types- drop, bar, piped and icebox cookies in two days! And we’re not done yet- next week we’re making sheet cookies- or cookies you make as a sheet and then cut into pieces, or “bars.”
First up, yesterday, we made drop cookies. These are Cranberry Oatmeal cookies. They were so good and chewy. They had honey in them, and you can taste it in the end result!
Today was a very busy day. We made icebox, piped and bar cookies (all in the same six hour class period).
Icebox cookies…Checkerboard cookies! This was my first time making Checkerboard cookies. They were made using some almond flour, along with cocoa powder in the chocolate portion.
Pecan and Raisin Biscotti with Orange Zest. By far my favorite cookie of the day, these bar form cookies were easy to deal with once you got past the foaming mixing method.
Jam Filled Spritz Cookies. Or as most people know them, a thumbprint type spritz. They have raspberry jam in the middle.
And the other half of the spritz cookies were garnished by dipping them in chocolate. Out of the two garnishes (jam and the chocolate), I liked the jam filled ones much better than the chocolate.
My roommate and I left for the Green City Market by about 6:50 this morning, and we got there at about 7:15. The Green City Market is the largest year round farmers market in Chicago (they hold it indoors during the winter months), and features many types of produce,meat, cheeses, canned goods- pickled beets,pickles, salsa, honey, etc, and artisian breads. This outing to the market was set up as an optional field trip by my Pastry theory chef, and I ran into him a couple of times at the market (and from what I can tell, I was the only one from my class to go!).
We had a lot of fun, walking around and just looking, along with purchasing a few items and buying breakfast.
Squash at the Green City Market. We saw more varieties of squash, beets, potatoes, and sweet potatoes than I knew existed!
Multi colored Carrots!!! Maybe next week…
Late raspberries that I bought at the market. They’re really good, and I was so excited to find good raspberries (that aren’t sour)!
After wandering around the market, and getting breakfast (quiche for Amanda and an Apple muffin for me), we sat and had breakfast in the coffee shop of the Hotel Lincoln.
Then we wandered into Treasure Island (a grocery store that claims they are the “America’s Most European Supermarket”). I don’t know about that claim, but they are a HUGE specialty store that you can find almost anything at (we found Meyer lemons, guava fruit, dragon fruit, and quince in the produce section- all fresh). This will come in handy when we stumble across a recipe we want to make but it has some odd ingredient in it.
The hot sauce section of Treasure Island.
Grapes hanging in the produce section.
We also found a spice shop and a pet store (that had kittens and puppies)…and all before 10 am! Successful early morning adventures!
This week has been the week of fruit. We made pie, we made tart and we made crostada.
Starting off with yesterday, we made pumpkin pie (pictured below) and a lattice topped apple pie (not pictured).
I know it’s not the best photo- we’re in a first floor kitchen, windows are very minimal and the lighting just isn’t that great. Plus it was raining and dark and dreary yesterday. But, my pie actually looked FANTASTIC!
Then, today, we made a Fresh Fruit Tart and a Pineapple Crostada (both pictured below). Both of these came out pretty good,although, I have to say that my favorite to make was the Pineapple Crostada.
These came about because I wanted something that I could grab in the morning to take with me for breakfast (on Mondays and Tuesdays, I’m up at 4:15 to leave by 5 for a 6am class).
The recipe came from bakedbree.com, and the only change I made was to use frozen fruit (it’s the middle of October and raspberries are getting too expensive!). I love how they came out, and will definitely enjoy them tomorrow morning.
Even though I’m baking two days a week at school (and cooking another two days a week at school), there’s still plenty of time for baking at home.
Peanut Butter Cookies to take to Hot Cocoa and Game Night in the Sky Lounge.
Banana Bread Muffins to use up ripe bananas.
Homemade hamburger buns to have with dinner tonight.
My introductory baking class at school is pretty much a crash course in all things baking. I love it!
Banana Nut Bread on Day 1
Blueberry Muffins using the Muffin Method on Day 1.
Blueberry Muffins using the Creaming Method on Day 2.
Marble Pound Cake on Day 2
Chocolate Chip Orange Scones on Day 3
Apple Cranberry Crisp on Day 4.
Apple Cobbler on Day 4.
I’m going to try to post my pictures from Baking on a weekly basis (instead of two weeks at a time). The only thing not pictured here are Buttermilk Biscuits because they were burned : (
