Sinfully Delicious

It’s been a while since I last blogged here. I have been elbow deep in baking and candy making.  I have almost everything on my to-do-list from last post completed. I decided not to do the caramel filled chocolates and I may not get to do the candied citrus peels in time for Yule dinner. But my graham crackers turned out amazing! So much better than when I made them in class! That time I don’t think I rolled the dough then enough so the graham crackers didn’t have that particular “crunch” you normally associate with them. This time they did. I also made Southern Pecan Pralines last night. I was a bit nervous since when my team made them in class I didn’t have anything to do with it. I was making the Swedish Profiteroles (they are little puffs of pastry topped with a shortdough cookie before baked, filled with a Bavarian cream and dusted with powdered sugar).  But my husband pronounced them yummy so I was a happy camper. And I know a few of my friends will be thrilled when they see them in your Yule baskets. Yay!

In my last blog it was requested for me to share what I am preparing for Yule this year. This year the menu is as follows:
Veggie bars for an appetizer
Beef tri tip slow cooked on the bbq
Spiral cut ham
Garlic bow tie pasta with bell peppers
Sautéed broccoli and mushrooms
Salad with olives, cranberries and feta
Homemade dinner rolls
Dessert will be poached apples served on top of homemade vanilla ice cream and served with a warm cranberry compote.

This will be the second year I have not done a period (medieval) feast. Last year the menu was:
Cucumber and feta dip with fresh pita for an appetizer
Chicken in a bourbon sauce/Venison deep dish pies
Garlic roasted potatoes/Fresh green beans with bacon and onions
Salad
Homemade biscuits
For dessert was a white cake with a white chocolate buttercream frosting with dark chocolate ganache and fresh berries. Oh and some chocolate caramels.

I do have passion for period cooking due to my involvement in the SCA. I used to do period feasts for Yule but I got a little burnt out on that. But some of my favorite dishes I have made are
Spiced cabbage with apples
Brie Tarts
Makrouns (medieval macaroni and cheese)
Sambocade (cheesecake with elderflowers)

In many ways I miss period cooking but we don’t go to events nearly as much anymore and there is only so much you can do on a camp stove. But I have done period feasts at events with a couple of camp stoves. Sometimes I impress even myself. LOL

I will probably post again after Yule but with pictures hopefully!

At this point every year I wonder why I do this to myself. Every Yule I decide to make goodies for friends and work. And seems that each year I tend to get more elaborate, bigger, more items, harder things to make…

This year with us buying the house, my husband and I decide let’s do goodie baskets for all our friends for gifts to keep the cost down. I’m not sure but I think it’s come up even.

So far I’ve made:
Chai coffee creamers
Popcorn spices
Dark chocolate cinnamon truffles with Drambuie
Milk chocolate candy cane truffles

My to do list:
Cinnamon Shortbread Stars (dough made)
Sugar Cookie (dough made)
Snickerdoodles (dough made)
Graham Crackers
Sugar Free Cookies
Wheat bread
Chocolate Covered Cherries
Pecan Pralines
Candied Citrus Peels
Gingerbread Cookies
Blackberry filled dark chocolates
Assembled some biscuit/scones mixes
Type up said mixes on recipe cards

And that is not counting the big Yule dinner we do every year for our friends.

The most amusing thing for me is that while I’m doing this I gripe, bitch, moan and groan. And yet I love every single second of it. LOL

Last night I posted about cake fiasco and last minute fix.

This morning I checked the pie and it wasn’t as firm as I would like so I covered it and set it in the freezer. Came home from work grabbed it and went onto my function.

I told the hostess that it needed to stay cold but she took it out too soon so it got a bit soft. But overall it tasted quite good. I think that I need to add some unflavored gelatin just to give it a bit more structure.

And I am already thinking of ways to make it better. One is the crust…this will do better in a shortdough crust or a graham cracker crust. And maybe a thin layer of dark chocolate between the crust and the filling.

But for a last minute “oh crap what do I do” throw together  it wasn’t bad at all. Not bad at all. :-

So I needed to make a dessert for a group function tomorrow night. A while ago, I had decided on making a white cake with a cranberry filling and a white chocolate buttercream frosting with some sugared cranberries for decoration. Great easy peasy.

I’m not really in the mood to bake but I need to get it done so I get my cranberry filling made and chilling in the fridge while I make dinner and afterwards I break everything out for the cake. Now this is a basic sponge cake recipe that I have made many times. I noticed that the batter looked a bit thick when I poured it into the pans but didn’t really think anything of it.

Little did I know. The cake was an absolute mess! It didn’t turn out at all. It was overflowing the pans, not set in the middle but burning on the sides and bottom. What the Hell?? The temp on the oven is correct. I double checked the recipe and I didn’t miss any steps or ingredients. I have no absolute clue to what went wrong.

But now what do I do? It’s almost 10 pm now. I could do another cake except my unsalted butter is frozen. And I would really like to get to bed sometime soon. So I decide to take stock of what I got. Well I have a cranberry sauce (which was going to be my cake filling), I have chocolates and pecans (but those are for Yule basket projects), I have whipping cream and various other baking basics and I have one deep dish pie shell unbaked. Hmmm…….

I get the pie shell and prepare it for baking. I add a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg and a dash more sugar to the cranberries. In my trusty kitchenaid I place a cup of heavy whipping cream with a tsp of vanilla and 2 tblsp of sugar and whip on high until it’s nice and stiff. I fold the whipped cream with the cranberries and set it in the fridge to thicken while the pie shell bakes and cools down.

After about an hour the pie shell has cooled down enough. I put the cranberry cream mixture into the pie shell and decorate the top with some of those sugared cranberries. And presto dessert!

The filling tastes pretty damn good if I say so myself. My only concern is that it may not set thick enough. But if it’s that way in the morning I’ll stick it in the freezer while I’m at work and it should be fine.

But only me…I’m glad I was able to figure something yummy out for dessert but I really want to know what happened with cake. Maybe I didn’t whip the egg whites enough or that the baking soda had lost it’s zip. Maybe it was just one of those days.

Welcome to Sinfully Delicious…where being bad never tasted so good.

Ok I know that was cheesy. My name is Carmen or Dryad as I answer to both. I work for a foster care program and I love working where I do but my real passion is being creative, be it painting, graphics, but especially cooking and/or baking.

The main purpose behind this blog is to share my love of cooking and baking with everyone. Here I will post recipes, cooking/baking tips, pictures of some of my creations. Also if there is a recipe you are looking for and just can’t find. Feel free to let me know. Between my collection of cookbooks and personal recipes I’m sure I can have it.

I went to school part time for almost two years to learn more about baking. I love to bake and make candies. My husband and friends love it too! teehee My ultimate goal is to have my own dessert catering business or dessert cafe.

So again welcome!