Stained Glass Jello - Laker Nation Style

Game 4 of the NBA Championship is on tonight!

My friend JustJenn made Marbled Lakers Cupcake for Game 2, and that inspired me to show my Los Angeles Lakers spirit.

This is called Broken Glass Jello or Stained Glass Jello. Totally easy to make with boxed jello, Knox unflavored gelatin and sweetened condensed milk...and time.

I've made it with 4 colors before, and you can adapt it in a rainbow of colors.
Originally posted (with directions): Broken Glass Jello

Broken Glass or Stained Glass Jello
(Adapted from JustJenn)

4 small boxes (3 oz. each) of Jell-O or store brand "gelatin dessert" in different colors. (I used 2 boxes of 3 oz. lemon jello and one 6 oz. box of grape)

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk (don't get evaporated milk)

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (that Knox stuff)

For each flavor, dissolve one box of jello in one cup of boiling water. Pour into a container and chill (overnight is probably best, but I chilled it 3 hours until firm). I had four of these containers of jello.

After chilling the four flavors, cut them into small blocks.

Carefully mix the blocks in a 9 x 13 pan.

In a separate bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin into 1/2 cup cold water. After the gelatin blooms, add 1 1/2 cup boiling water and dissolve. Add the can of condensed milk. Stir and cool. Pour cooled milk mixture over jello. It does help to take the time to skim off any small bubbles that are created when you pour the condensed milk on the jello pieces. Chill overnight.

Cut into blocks or shapes and serve! In this case, serve up and cheer!

By the way, did you hear this NPR Morning Edition piece by Tom Goldman? Anti-Lakers Sentiment Rampant Through NBA Fans. Eeck!! I'm a native Los Angeles gal so the Lakers have always been my team. Please don't hate me for it! :)

Gourmet's Gingerbread for June Gloom

June Gloom Gingerbread

Los Angeles is having a major case of June Gloom. In the last couple weeks we have had overcast skies, rain, foggy days, and even lightening. That marine layer just won't go away. There is only a 58% chance of sunshine in June in LA and I'm beginning to wonder if I need to take Vitamin D supplements instead of my daily dose outside. And perhaps a few hours in front of my Lowell Ego lights. Sigh. Just kidding...sorta.

This may sound very pathetic to some, but these lower temperatures and cloudy skies make me think of FALL. And what's the flavor of fall? Gingerbread.

I'm always looking for gingerbread recipes. I love ginger. I love unfrosted cakes (yeah, JustJenn, I'm not a member of Frosting Nation or "Legalize Frostitution" campaign). Gingerbread is the perfect combo of not too sweet cake, moistness, cinnamon and ginger.

This is Gourmet's Gingerbread from February 2009

Recipe by Ruth Cousineau

One of my co-workers said it tasted like little Ginger People chews were in the cake. Sorta like a soylent green ginger cake! :) This cake only uses ground ginger, ground cinnamon and molasses for the spice - making it really easy to assemble!

I dusted my squares with powdered sugar but a dollop of whipped cream would be nice too.

I find that cutting everything and putting them in cupcake holders makes for easy grabbing by co-workers and less mess. Good thing I picked up 1,000 of these at Surfas recently! :)

Hopefully the sun WILL come out tomorrow! :)

Recipe: Gourmet's Gingerbread

Parisian Apple Tartlet - Tuesdays with Dorie

Make this!
Make this!
Make this!

...and people will love you for it.

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Jessica of My Baking Heart picked Parisian Apple Tartlet on page 319 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Sorry, my arms are really acting up so I can't type much tonight (need to go ice and rest them).

Puff pastry, fruit, butter, brown sugar. It is so easy you think you are forgetting something!

I made my delicious and super easy tarts with Trader Joe's all-butter puff pastry. Some TWD bakers made their own puff pastry! I don't want to make it myself because I seriously don't want know how much butter is in puff pastry. :)

The Trader Joe's puff pastry comes in squares. I made 4 circles and two rectangles with the dough. This one has fresh pineapple and yellow peaches. Delicious!

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers! Thanks for a great pick, Jessica! For the recipe, buy Dorie's fantastic book or check out Jessica's blog, My Baking Heart.

Cherry Cheesecake Tart - You Want Pies with That?

I need to check my birth certificate. I think my middle name is actually "Procrastination."

It's Sunday night...the Lakers just won Game 2 of the NBA Championship (whoo hoo!) and my pie is finally in the oven. And, of course, it is due in a few hours. I also spent the morning at Disney's California Adventure with UCLA friend, Barbara...and got my personal best on Toy Story Mania with 176,100 points...however, I just watched this youtube video of hints and discovered the high point Easter eggs. Next time, I'm going over 200K :)

This month's theme for You Want Pies with That? is "Childhood Favorite Pie" by Ellen at Kittymama. Ellen couldn't join us this month because she has very exciting happenings in her life...in fact, check her blog for details of how she is going to create wonderful childhood memories for a beautiful little sweetheart!

Childhood Memory Pie: Bake a pie or tart that is inspired by a favorite childhood memory. Maybe you spent a summer vacation in Maine so it's a blueberry pie; or your grandmother always baked lemon meringue, or you remember your first taste of apple pie ever. Tell us a little story that will help us walk down memory lane with you and relive some happy childhood memories!

Um. Memories.
Let me describe myself using some Disney terms.

I am Dory from Finding Nemo. I speak whale and can't remember anything.

However, I did reach way way back and found two childhood food-related memories: graham crackers and cherries.

I remember eating graham crackers for snack at "Preschool in the Park" (it was actually held in a park). And I remember seeing a photo of my brother and I holding a big box of fresh picked cherries. Now, I don't remember going out and PICKING the cherries, but I remember my mom showing me the photo and telling me that we went cherry picking someplace in Los Angeles or the surrounding counties. Pretty pathetic memory, but, like I said...I'm Dory.

This pie is a variation of Tyler Florence's Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars. I made the original before (very yummmmy!), and switched it up for this challenge.

I used a 9" tart shell, omitted the lemon zest, and used 1 cup pitted and halved fresh cherries on top. Baking time remained the same. It's a great tart for those times when you don't want a 3" tall chunk of cream cheese but all the flavor. Original recipe: Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars by Tyler Florence

Please be sure to check out the other creative You Want Pies with That? bakers!! Whew! 11:45 pm and I got it in! Good night!

Buttermilk Coffee Cake or the old school Cowboy Coffee Cake

When I went to DC to visit my friends Racheal and Lee, I baked a bit and picked up some buttermilk for a cake. Unfortunately, Lee took a swig of the buttermilk thinking it was regular milk.

I'm just sorry I missed the look on his face.

Light and easy to make coffee cake with walnut & cinnamon crumb topping

This morning I found myself heading to a presentation at another library and, in a blatant attempt to literally butter up my audience, I was looking for something to bring. And I had buttermilk in the fridge.

I was feeling old school and picked up the Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book (11th edition, 1996). You know, the red plaid cover!!

They call this the Buttermilk Coffee Cake. The note says, "Back by popular demand, this breakfast treat was known as Cowboy Coffee Cake in previous editions of this cookbook."

Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until small crumbs:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup butter, margarine, or shortening (I used butter)

Put aside 1/2 cup of the crumb mixture and combine with 1/2 cup nuts. I used walnuts. Love the "Walnut Baking Pieces" from Trader Joe's...no need to cut or trim. The nuts aren't optional...you really need them to add crunch and texture.

Stir into the remaining crumb mixture:
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

In a separate bowl, combine these two ingredients and then add (all at once) to the flour mixture:
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cups buttermilk or sour milk

Since the crumb mixture contained cold butter, I wasn't sure how to "mix well". It didn't say to make it smooth so I mixed it (by hand) well enough to combine everything and left these little bits of butter. See them? Well, it turned out fine.

Pour into a greased 13 x 9 pan (I always line it with parchment paper). Sprinkle the topping over the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Cowboy Coffee Cake or Buttermilk Coffee Cake

English Peas and Buttermilk Potatoes

Math lesson of the day: English peas + Carbs = Delicious!

The farmers market has English peas now! And I'm lazy!

So I bought the shelled peas for $6 a pound ("sealed up" peas were $3/pound). That extra cost was so worth it. I know it can be relaxing and fill you with summertime Zen-like back-to-earth visions of the farm to shell them yourself...but, like noted above, I'm lazy.

English Peas and Buttermilk Potatoes

4 red potatoes (mine were a bit big...so adjust to taste/size/hunger)
1 cup shelled English peas
1/4 cup buttermilk
1-2 T butter
Lots of salt and pepper

I cut up the potatoes and nuked them for about 5 minutes. I boiled the peas in salted water until al dente (I'm sure I could have done things together in the pot, but I wasn't thinking). Drain everything and pop it back into the pot to dry out a bit. Add the buttermilk and butter and start mashing. Easy PEAsy (get it?! darn, I'm such a nerd)

Cinnamon Squares - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures chose Cinnamon Squares on pages 210 and 211 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. Be sure to head over to Tracey's blog. Her blog rocks!!!

I've made this recipe before and it is delicious! A perfect breakfast, tea, snack, brunch, dessert, 3:00 pm, midnight and TV snack. Yes, a friend indeed.

The center swirl is a delicious combo of instant espresso powder, sugar, cinnamon and chocolate. I know some people don't care of the flavor combo of cinnamon and chocolate, but I love it. I put in 3/4 of the batter, the swirl, then the remaining 1/4 batter.

The topping is a mix of melted bittersweet chocolate and butter. Simply yum.
Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers

Recipe: Find it on Tracey’s Culinary Adventures, or in Dorie's fantastic book, Baking.

Meyer Lemon and Ginger Sorbet

Oh dear. I'm having an affair with the ice cream maker. You know I'm in a committed relationship with the Bundt pan (as evidenced by my 1,000 bundt cakes), but my brand new ice cream maker makes me weak in the knees. Oh man, it is fantastic! It's like magic!! Perhaps it will only be a summer fling...we'll see.

I adapted the recipe straight from the Cuisinart instruction booklet! They had a plain lemon sorbet, but I love anything ginger so I infused some ginger into the simple syrup mixture. Next time, I would infuse more ginger for a longer period of time to give it more ginger flavor (I love love ginger)

Meyer Lemon and Ginger Sorbet

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 inch fresh ginger, cut into 1/4" slices - next time, I would use more
3/4 c fresh Meyer lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Bring water, sugar and ginger to boil, reduce to low and simmer for 5 minutes until sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Strain the ginger from the mixture. Refrigerate until you are going to use it.

Add lemon juice to syrup mixture and stir. Pop in the ice cream maker until thickened, about 25-30 minutes.

Lemon Blueberry Bundt with White Chocolate

Lemon Blueberry Bundt
from the Nestle's website

Still working on those Costco blueberries (I think they are actually breeding and multiplying in the clam-shell box...)

Today's blueberry item: Lemon Blueberry Bundt. Yes, shocker of all shockers...Mary selected a Bundt cake!

This recipe is pretty much a buttermilk pound cake with some added melted white chocolate (didn't really taste this in the end product). Add half the batter then the blueberries. The blueberries are supposed to end up in the middle. But since I must have the heaviest blueberries on the planet (see my upside down blueberry cake from earlier this week) and I forgot to dust them in cornstarch or flour (although the recipe didn't call for this), they kinda sunk and didn't end up looking anything like the photo on Nestle's website.

The topping/glaze is 1 cup of melted white chocolate morsels with optional lemon extract.

Yeah, those blueberries were no where in the middle. But I just say the cake has its own mind and character.

Was it my favorite bundt? No, not really. I would rather have Everyday Food's Berry-Lemon Bundt with the lemon glaze, rather than this white chocolate glaze. But I know there are a bunch of white chocolate lovers out there so you might want to give this one a try!

Recipe: Nestle's Lemon Blueberry Bundt

P.S. Happy Birthday Karen!!!

(Upside down) Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

(Upside Down by Accident) Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

Who doesn't love the Smitten Kitchen? She's amazing and always come up with the most delicious dishes.

When I saw her Raspberry Buttermilk Cake, I knew I had to make it. I love breakfast and tea cakes. I just don't like frosting...I've been peeling it off since I was a little kid!

Also, I bought the mammoth box of California blueberries from Costco and have to come up with 10 ways to use them. :)

The batter came together quickly. Very easy and "lower" in fat...only 1/2 stick of butter! I sprinkled 1 cup of blueberries on top and popped it into the oven...

When I opened the oven, the fruit was gone. I thought there were in the middle...but no, they were on the bottom.

I probably used too many blueberries and next time I can dust them in flour or wait a few minutes before popping them in the batter. Smitten Kitchen's and Gourmet's fruit fell, but not all the way to bottom like mine.

So, like the saying, "when life gives you a cake with blueberries on the bottom, turn the damn thing over," I served it as an upside down cake, and dusted it with some powdered sugar.

The bottom had a nice crunch because the sugar topping was on the bottom! :)

Recipe: From Smitten Kitchen who got it from Gourmet. Use either one.