Real Housewives of Orange County Pie for You Want Pies with That?

Real Housewives of Orange County Orange Jello Pie

First, let's all have a moment of silence for my oven. It finally died. Unfortunately, it died with a half baked Hummingbird cake inside it that I needed to bring to work. [You know those meltdowns that happen on reality TV competition shows (a la Project Runway) when the contestants are completely sleep-deprived and just crazy? Well, that happened.] I ended up buying some cakes instead. Sigh.

So, I bought a new range/oven today...it should be delivered on Friday. Very plain Maytag. But it has a window in the door so I'll be sitting in front of it for hours I'm sure.

Okay...to the pie! For this month's You Want Pies with That? challenge, the theme is: Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Pie. If I had an oven, I was going to go for the Halle raspBerry Pie, but since I had to go with no bake...I went fake bake (with heavy emphasis on the FAKE)!

Presenting the Real Housewives of Orange County Orange Jello Pie. It's fake pie for all those fake boobs! (although the new one with the sick boyfriend 3x her age says hers are real)

The fake bake ingredients:

Keebler graham cracker crust.
Store brand gelatin box of lemon stuff.
"Whipped topping" (store brand Cool Whip stuff) - yes, full of oil and other chemicals.
Artificially flavored Orange gelatin cut into little squares.

I think Michael Pollan would agree that this is totally fake food! And it is perfect for the all the girls with their multiple collagen, botox and silicone injections!

By the way, I may mock but I can't turn away! I promised my friend's daughter that when she goes off to college, we are going to skype about it all the time (if I can figure out how to skype...) So I give you a reality TV salute to the Lifestyles of the Rich and Semi-Famous Housewives of the OC!

*** Edited to Add: OH MY GOSH! I brought this into work and my co-worker asked me about the orange circle on top. I said, "Yeah, It's an Orange for Orange County!" (I'm so clever, I think). But then she said it looked like a nipple!!!! Oh my gosh! That was NOT the intention at all! I'm horrified and feel like Elaine on that Seinfeld episode. So, take your mind out of the gutter, it's an orange piece of jello meant to represent the Orange in Orange County! ***

Check out the other creative pies from the You Want Pies with That? crew! And join in the fun!

Banana Cream Pie (Tuesdays with Dorie)

Banana Cream "Pie"

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Oh. Sorry.
That was my head hitting the keyboard as I struggle to stay awake. It is 8:15 pm.

I'm so tired today. I yawned so much at work my co-workers are starting to think my life isn't as boring as it really is. I don't know what it is, but I'm going to go to bed in a few minutes.

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Amy of Sing for Your Supper chose Banana Creme Pie, page 342 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. I made 1/4 of the recipe and skipped the pie crust. Instead, I used these lovely ginger Japanese cookies and some thin ginger cookies from Trader Joe's (watch the blog next week for giveaways that include these cookies!)

My pastry cream was a little too cooked and ended up a little "tough." Ah, I need to practice more on the puddings, custards and creams.

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

And check back next week! It'll be National Library Week and I'm celebrating with giveaways all week long! :)

Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake

Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake

Spring.

One of our two seasons here in Southern California (the other, of course, is summer).

And what comes with Spring? Besides in influx of pollen that can destroy your quality of life (oh, I digress and yet would like to take this opportunity to say the Neti-Pot isn't just an Oprah craze...it is a miracle worker!)…Okay, back to Spring. What's else in the in air? It's love. Yes, love is all a'swirling.

Or at least in my oven.

Recently, I was looking at Amy’s Sing for your Supper blog and saw her beautiful Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt cake . She has a fancy new Bundt pan. Go look at her cake. Go ahead. I’ll wait for you.

Cute, huh?

It was love at first sight and bite!

And the love continues. I have made this cake four times in one week (to four different groups of people)! Yes, I'm so in love.

This recipe is so awesome simple! Don’t have to get anything to room temp and you don’t need a KitchenAid mixer. The secret is bringing 1 c water, ½ c oil, 1 stick butter and ¼ c + 1T (or 5 T) cocoa powder to a boil and then adding it to a 2 c flour, 2 c sugar and ½ t salt mixture. Add in ½ c buttermilk and 1 t baking soda. Mix 2 eggs, 1 ½ t cinnamon and 1 t vanilla in a small bowl and combine with batter. That's it!! Bake in a Bundt at 375 for 30-35 minutes (the original recipe says 25 minutes but mine has been raw at this point). Cool in the pan (I took depanned mine after about 20 minutes with no problems).

Oh geez, I just typed the recipe from memory. I’m seriously head-over-heels in love.

One time, I added 1 t instant espresso powder to the boiled mixture and it was good, but it muted the cinnamon flavor. Ina Garten just did a Barefoot Contessa show where the secret ingredient in her chocolate recipe was coffee…and I agree with her…but not in this one so I'm sticking with the original. Also, I've made it with both Dutch-processed and regular Hershey's cocoa powder - and it was fab both times. I'm telling you - this cake rocks.

Do your friends, family and co-workers a favor...make this cake!
You'll fall in love this Spring too!

Recipe:
Amy’s Sing for your Supper
Play-by-Play photos on Vintage Victuals (who adapted the recipe from the recipe from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Coconut Butter Thins (Tuesdays with Dorie)

Coconut Butter Thins

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch selected on Coconut Butter Thins on page 145 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

This recipe calls for lime zest but I forgot to buy one and used a Meyer lemon instead. The dough was easy to put together in the morning, roll out and let it chill out in the refrig. I came home from work, cut them out and baked them off. Dorie has you cut them into squares with a ruler and all...but my blob of dough was so misshaped I thought circles might be easier!

They were light and buttery. Coconut, lemon zest, & macadamia nuts!
Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

P.S. Happy Birthday Dad!

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Meyer Lemon Glaze (Bon Appetite)

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Meyer Lemon Glaze
and some California Strawberries

When the April 2009 issue of Bon Appétit arrived at the library, I started to salivate (as usual). They have a section on cakes that is just beautiful!

Then, I was going through my way overflowing Google Reader and found that Tracey's Culinary Adventure made the cake! It looked fantastic and I just had to try it out. I've been making the Everyday Food Orange Cornmeal Cake practically every day. I love this one too! You should definitely try both of these recipes!

The recipe calls for a crushed blueberry sauce, but I didn't have any and threw on some strawberries instead. The cake was so lemony delicious that it didn't need the sauce at all!

Okay, totally off-topic, but I seem to always have one competitive reality show going (no, I'm not talking about Octo-mom's competitive crazy person show - dude, she wins that one). I'm hooked again on the Amazing Race. Did you know that Mike White (screenwriter/actor of School of Rock, Chuck & Buck, The Good Girl) is in it with his 68 year old father? Totally my favorite team. The LA Times had a great article about it - Mike calls himself an "Amazing Race scholar." Sundays at 8 pm on CBS! It's not too late to join in the fun. And the host Phil is just so cute.

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Meyer Lemon Glaze: I give it 4 forks!
You can find the full recipe here on epicurious!

Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake (Donna Hay)

Apples.
Cinnamon.
Cake.

Yum.

Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake

My co-worker went to the American Library Association conference last year (oh yeah, thousands of librarians in one place...[insert your own joke here]). She was waltzing around the vendor area and one of them was packing up...decided to not shlep all of the display books back home...so she gave away this great Donna Hay Simple Essentials: Fruit book!

And then my co-worker gave the book to me! How sweet! Oh yeah, did I mention that pages were marked with "suggestions" to make and bring to work?! (just kidding...sorta)

This book is awesome and beautiful. Every recipe is short and sweet (she fits 4 recipes on one page!!) and each one has an awesome photo. Donna Hay has a lovely empire of magazines and books. Australia is so lucky to have such a gem.

Okay, so my intention was to make the cake as directed on page 82...but I didn't have all the ingredients and ended up substituting so many things I don't know if its her recipe anymore. Anyway, my creation was yummy. And I'm sure her recipe would only be much better, richer and more delicious. I'll gather all the right ingredients and make it again.

Here are the changes I made:
- Used an 8” springform (instead of an 8 1/2" springform) so mine is a bit taller. Next time, I'll use a 9" springform.
- Used what I had at the time – skim milk instead of whole milk.
- Used granulated sugar instead of caster or superfine sugar (because I didn’t have it on hand)
- Misread the ingredient list and used 6 oz. butter (1 ½ sticks) instead of 6 ½ oz.

apple and cinnamon tea cake

Cream together: 6 ½ oz. soft butter (if my conversions are right, this should be 1 stick + 5 T butter), ½ t cinnamon and 2/3 c caster (superfine) sugar.
Add one at a time: 3 eggs.
Sift onto batter: 1 ½ c all-purpose flour and ½ t baking powder.
Mix in: 1/3 c milk.

Place on top of batter: 4 small green apples, peeled, halved, cored, and cut thin - but don't cut all the way through. I didn't press them down at all because the apples were small snack size gala apples. Sprinkle on top: 1 t sugar and ¼ t cinnamon.

Bake for 50 minutes (160 C / 320 F) then brush on ¼ c apricot jam or jelly, warmed. Pop back into oven and bake for another 10 minutes or so. I ended up baking mine for 65 minutes at 325 F.

Yummy! And the co-worker who gave me the book? She loved this cake. Thought it really focused on the apple.

Get a copy of Donna Hay's Fruit book here, or see if your library has it on Worlcat!

Fresh California Strawberry Scones

Strawberry Scone

Beep. Beep. Beep.
Bang {hitting the snooze button}.
Beep. Beep. Beep.

It's about 4:45 am on Monday morning and while listening to NPR's Morning Edition, I flip on the laptop.

When I look at my Google Reader, Irene's Confessions of a Tart Strawberry Scone pop out at me. I mean, arms coming out of the computer shaking you awake in the morning and screaming, "Make these now!"

Luckily, I went to the farmer's market this weekend and picked up these lovely California grown strawberries.

Irene received her recipe from a friend and it's totally a winner!

I used 90% cream and a little buttermilk (because I ran out of cream!). I shaped mine in two small rounds and got 16 scones. I brought them to the library and they were gone in a flash.

When you hear the Beep. Beep. Beep. of your alarm, get up and make some scones!

Thanks Irene for a great recipe! For the recipe and way, way better photos (including step-by-step photos) go to Irene's awesome blog: Confessions of a Tart - Strawberry Scone

Blueberry Crumb Cake (Tuesdays with Dorie)

Blueberry Crumb Cake

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Sihan of Befuddlement selected Blueberry Crumb Cake on pages 192-193 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

This cake is just like its name: Cake, Blueberries and Crumb!

The crumb is a yummy combo of walnuts, butter, sugar, brown sugar, and flour.

I didn't have the full 2 cups of blueberries...so I had to do with one cup. Instead of folding it into the batter, I pour half the batter into the pan and scattered the blueberries on top. Then the rest of the batter and topped with crumb topping!

It was a little hard to tell when it was done because the crumb topping made a crust. Some bakers got a puddle of butter in the center. Some think the crumb topping needs to be cold when it goes into the oven; I have read instructions like this for other crumb cakes so I concur. Mine was pretty cold, but it could have been colder.

Thanks Sihan for a great pick! Find the recipe on her website!
Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Sky High Cakes - Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake (Cake Slice Bakers)

Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake

The Cake Slice Bakers voted to make the super delicious Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake!

The Cake Slice Bakers make one cake per month and we are spending one year using the terrific book: Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman.

Better get a chicken because this recipe uses 13 eggs! Eight in the 9" chiffon cake and 5 more in the lemon curd. I made mine with Meyer lemons.

The layers are filled with lemon curd and topped with a whipped cream with lemon curd frosting. Light as air.

Be sure to check out other The Cake Slice Bakers!

Seriously, celebrate the first day of Spring by purchasing the great cookbook!!! You won't be disappointed!!

Dorie Greenspan's Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake (Dorie Greenspan's recipe)

I was never the student who skipped ahead to the next assignment, or finished the chapter before it was due. I was usually finishing up on my way to class.

But my love of the Bundt has put me ahead of the Tuesdays with Dorie group. We'll be baking for a few more years to get through all the recipes and I just couldn't wait because I was craving me another Bundt.

A sour cream cake batter is made and 1/2 the "swirl" added. The swirl is sugar, walnuts, bittersweet chocolate, raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Dorie says to scoop the rest of the batter in the pan, dig a little trench and then place the rest of the swirl in the opening. Finally, cover it the best you can (it won't cover everything). I wasn't very good at this and might try to save more batter to place it on top of the swirl instead.

Just before a simple topping of powdered sugar rounds out this delicious Bundt.

Recipe: Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake on page 182 of Dorie book, Baking.