It's Bread Puddin' Ya'll

One of my most favoritist desserts is bread pudding, and I actually don't get to make it that much since my dad and brother hate it. So, when Dad goes out of town, I make bread pudding for Mom and I to share, and boy was this bread pudding a treat. I normally make the traditional bread pudding, but decided this time I wanted to try something new. My first intent was to make Chocolate Bread Pudding, but as I was looking for a recipe at Epicurious, I ran across another recipe that struck my fancy! Pumpkin Bread Pudding!! First off the picture looked soo good, and I'm all about pictures! Second, after reading the reviews on this recipe I was S-O-L-D. Everybody said it was the best bread pudding ever and that it was so easy to make (which it was!). So with that I headed off to the grocery store and bought me up some pumpkin puree and a baguette.

The nice thing about this recipe was that you don't have to let the darn thing sit for hours and hours. You make it, and bake it, and eat it of course! The recipe called for day old bread, but since I bought my bread that day fresh from the store I decided to improvise. I cut up the baguette, put it in a bowl and stuck it under the broiler for a few minutes to get the bread a little crispy and "stale". Just make sure to keep an eye on your bread and see to it that it doesn't get burned or too crispy. The other good thing about this recipe is that it only used 3 eggs, not the usual 6 or 8.

My first indication that this dessert was going to be phenomenal was when I tasted the "custard" batter. MMMMM, it was sweet and pumpkin-y with a hint of cinnamon and allspice. Definitely made me think of Turkey day (which, by the way, is fast approaching!!). I decided to add some cranberries and chopped walnuts to the mix, poured it over the broiler-crusted bread and dumped all that into my baking dish. Then into the oven it went, for only 30 minutes, I'm telling you this recipe is amazing! Easy to prepare, tastes great and quick cooking. When it came out of the oven my heart jumped for joy. It looked soo good and smelled absolutely amazing.

So with spoon in hand I was ready to dish up mine and Mom's treat for the night. I politely asked my brother if he wanted to try some, and to my surprise he said "yeah". Serving up three, hot, creamy, pumpkin bursting, cranberry studded, walnut dotted bread puddings was like heaven, and to top it off I add a dollop of whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce. Mom and I instantly fell in love after first bite, but the true testament came when my brother said, "whoa Steph, this is really good!!". So ya'll go out and getcha some Pumpkin Bread Pudding (you can find the recipe at epicurious.com)!

My First Paid Cake!

While sitting with my feet in warm bubbly water, relaxing and ready to enjoy my pedicure I felt a sudden vibration against my leg...cell phone! "Hello?" "Hi Steph it's Aunt Dawn and I have a huge favor to ask of you...I know you're only promoting Babycakes as a monthly special for baked goods, but I', in a bind and need a birthday cake for one of the ladies in my office. Do you think you could make me one?" With a huge smile on my face, excited that my baking dreams are coming true I simply answered "Of course!! What kind of cake do you want?" "Well I need a 1/2 sheet of carrot cake by Monday." "Ok no problem! What do you want it to say?" "Happy Birthday Glenda, and I'm gonna need it by Monday, is that ok?" "That'll be fine! I'll bring it by the office around 9ish" "Oh thank you so much sweetie! You are a lifesaver!!"

And that's how it started...my Sunday long project of baking and decorating a half sheet of carrot cake for my new found business! I can't really explain to you all how good the cake tasted, since I didn't get to eat a chunk of it :) But I did taste the batter (with a spoon) and it was soo good! I added some ginger and orange zest to give the cake a special hint of flavor, and I also re-hydrated my raisins before adding them to the mix. And let me tell you what a life saver Kitchen Aid was...I just attached the grater on to the mixer and let the mixer do the work of grating 6 cups of carrots, the whole grating process took about 3 minutes!! Brilliant.

I was a little nervous to decorate the beautiful cake, but after practicing for a few minutes my confidence level was built up and away I went. I only had one smudge, but was able to cover it up with the plain white cream cheese frosting. I think over all the cake came out fantastic and am hoping that this will opening up the some baking doors for me :)

Happy Halloween

This Halloween I wanted to get a little creative and get into the full Halloween spirit, so I decided to create a bunch of festive treats for my friends and family. And since I am no longer the little girl who gets to put on her costume and go trick or treating, I thought this would be an equally satisfying way to partake in the fun of Halloween. All of my recipes were based on the black and orange theme, or had pumpkin flavors to them. I can't tell you how much fun it was to make all of these treats :) It's amazing how something so small, like baking Halloween cookies and cupcakes, can bring back a rush of past memories. As I was making these devilish goodies I was reminiscing about past Halloweens, and the costumes that I had. From Snow White, Belle, a gumball machine (which I absolutely hated), to a skunk, a witch and Wilma Flintstone, I've had my fair share of tricks and treats! But now as I get older I find more fun in seeing the next generation of adults stroll around the neighborhood in their ladybug, Scream, Spider Man and Disney Princess costumes. The excitement on their face from a piece of candy makes me remember how good it was to be a kid, worry free and full of life. It makes me wish I would've taken a little more time savoring childhood instead of eagerly anticipating adulthood. But this Halloween, these creations, brought back a piece of that childhood freedom that I think I desperately needed. So, without further due I give you Halloween :)

First up is Pumpkin Gingerbread Bars, courtesy of Peabody. When I saw these I knew immediately I had to make them! The creamy pumpkin pie-ish layer is a top a wonderful gingerbread crust, that was to die for! The whole bar is topped of with a gingerbread crumble and a layer of drizzled glaze. The flavor of these bars is definitely suitable for Halloween, but is also great for the upcoming falls months and holidays!

The next Ghoulish treat is a recipe that I saw my idol, Giada de Laurentis make. These Chocolate Orange cupcakes were a huge hit, and so easy. The batter is store bought cake mix, but instead of adding water, you add orange juice! I also added candied ginger to give the cupcakes a little kick, and man-o-man was that a sweet idea. I have actually never tried chocolate and orange together, and even though people rave about it I wasn't convinced. But after trying this recipe I'm a believer! The orange almost enhanced the chocolate flavor and was a delightfully refreshing taste in my mouth!

My Monster Cookies are also from a favorite Food Network star, Paula Deen. These cookies have just about every cookie ingredient you can imagine! With the chocolate chips, peanut butter, oatmeal, raisin, and M & M ingredients, how can you go wrong? I have to tell you all, that this is probably the BEST cookie dough you will ever eat!! I literally took out a ginormous scoop of dough, placed it in a separate bowl and devoured it! (I liked the dough better than the baked cookies). The cookies come out with a crispy edge to them, but a very soft in the center, which to me is a perfect cookie. And the oatmeal gives them a great chewy texture. I just couldn't get enough of these!

The funnest cookie that I made was my Pumpkin and Bat sugar cookies, which I hand decorated! The hardest part I had with these was mixing the food coloring to get them just the right color, other than that they were a cinch and a huge success! The light buttery crispness of the cookie was covered with a thin layer of royal icing.

My final treat was the classic whoopie pie, which was insanely good. Gooey marshmallow filling is sandwiched between two rich chocolate cakes, given you the ultimate little piece of heaven. The first time I made these they were an instant favorite of mine, and never disappoint. This recipe is from Epicurious and couldn't be any easier to make. And if this treat doesn't take you back to your childhood I don't know what will :)

With all of these lovely treats completed I was excited to deliver them to all of my friends and family, who were the very first customers of my new found home-based company Babycakes. That's right! I did it! I am starting a home-based "goody" selling business called Babycakes. Each month I create a seasonal menu and send it around to family and friends and hand deliver all orders. I cannot tell you all how excited I am to be on the road to my dream, and if you would like to be a Babycakes customer feel free to email me at sclark32@gmail.com to be added to my mailing list, since you, my blogging buddies are also my friends and supporters! So with fingers crossed, and my dreams as my horizon I'm hoping walk the road of self made, self discovered, and self earned success!

And who could have Halloween without a Halloween Dinner? On the creepy Halloween menu was Wilted Swamp Greens with Shrieking Cats, Witches Fingers and Pumpkin Soup with Floating Cats and Bats. To top it all of we had Pumpkin-Chocolate Cake with Black Slime!

Oooh Balloons!!

For those of you that don't know much about Albuquerque, NM, here is something that we are definitely known for, and something everybody should come see at least once in their life! I'm talking about the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta!! The Fiesta brings balloonists from all over the world to take part in the WORLD'S biggest and most popular balloon fiesta! The biggest event that we boast during this week long event are our Mass Ascensions. These take place every morning where, I kid you not, hundreds and hundreds of balloons gather early, early in the morning, inflate, and take off from the balloon fiesta park, giving the most spectacular view you will ever see. This year, Albuquerque had it's largest turn out EVER with over 800,000 people visiting the park during the entire week!! And it's no wonder why! As you're walking through the rows and rows and more rows of balloons that are filling up with air, you can't help but get wrapped up in the excitement. The first noise that everyone hears out on the park is the sound of the fans. As the fans blow air into the once flat balloons, your suddenly aroused by the site of these massive balloons actually coming to life! Once the balloons are filled up with enough air, the fun begins. The roar of burners fill the air and the comforting heat, bursting off of each gondola warms your body, as the amazing sight of the balloons is what warms your soul. Suddenly out of no where whistles begin to blow! And as any balloon fiesta regular knows, it can only mean one thing...Zebras! No, not real zebras silly...balloon fiesta zebras! Zebras are responsible for clearing the path for the balloons to take of from the field safely. So, there kind of like referees but they take their outfits to the extreme, whether it's hats with zebras, zebra leggings, zebra face painting, I've seen it all! The most amazing part of the balloon fiesta is that as the first rows of balloons take of, the virgin balloon fiesta go-er would think that that's it...but oh no!! You would be way wrong! As one row clears, another round of balloons lay out on the filed and begin to inflate, allowing us to see about 300 balloons in the air!! And I'm not talking just regular 'ole balloons, well we do have those. But then you have the Special Shapes, and these are the coolest balloons! They range from the Creamland Cow, known as Arabelle, the Wells Fargo Stage Coach, Flying Pigs, Darth Vader, Flying Bees, The Colosseum, A Giant Tree, Witches, Pumpkins, Owls, a Stork, Turtles, Elephants, Beer mugs, Champagne bottles, the American Flag, a Space Shuttle and sooo much more!!

The other cool event that the balloon fiesta has, and is the second most popular event is the Glow-deo. And this is when all the special shape balloons come out to the park just before sunset and have, what we call a Balloon Glow. You see while the sun is setting the balloon fill up, and tons of people pour on to the field. And as the sun goes down, it of course gets dark outside, and this is when the magic happens. The burners from the balloons ignite, and make the balloons "glow", hence the name balloon glow. If your breath has never been takin away, please, please, please come to see a balloon glow and you will be absolutely breathless. I have been going to balloon glows since I was a baby, and the sight of all of these balloon glows in the brinks of sunset still bring tears to my eyes. It is a feeling, a sight an experience that words cannot do justice for. The balloons of course "glow" on their own, whenever the pilot needs to fill the balloon with hot air, but the pilots also participate in All Burns. All Burns are counted down from ten-nine-eight-seven...and when the announcer gets to one he says ALL BURN!! And EVERY single balloon out on that field pulls their burner and you are surrounded by dozens of balloons glowing all at once! And that is when you will be left totally breathless, speechless and in total awe!