Mark Bittman's Italian American Lasagna

Ina Garten's Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook: Salted Caramel Apple Pie

With Molly Moon's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

TWD: Gingerbread Baby Cakes

These definitely need something creamy with them.

TWD: Buttermilk Crumb Muffins

TWD: Cranberry walnut pumpkin loaf

TWD: Bagels

TWD: Popovers

Very simple. And the first time that I got them perfectly hollow.

TWD: Berry Gallette

We love this. I used raspberries, blueberries, and a peach. Didn't use the honey, but I probably will if I make it again.

TWD: Blueberry nectarine pie

Actually, blueberry peach pie. And it was phenomenal.

TWD: Semolina Bread

Chewy, crispy and soft. The perfect kind of bread.

TWD: Hazelnut Biscotti

We moved this week and I am in love with my new kitchen.

First baking project was hazelnut biscotti.

                                       

They turned out well and I was glad to use the hazelnuts that I had bought ages ago for something fun. These are a good anytime food, which is really dangerous.

Now we just have to figure out how to calm our guard dog.

TWD: French Strawberry Cake

Probably the best part about making this cake was picking the strawberries ourselves. I really wish that we were closer to a pick-your-own farm because these berries were cheap and delicious!

I think my actual cake flopped a bit. I must not have whipped the eggs enough. That baby was thiiiiiin.

But the cake was still pretty and tasted good.

A very good summer treat.

TWD: Oasis Naan

File this one under "Foods That I Love, But Probably Shouldn't Make Myself."

These suckers were a bit time-consuming and messy. I felt like I had a sticky dough explosion on my hands. 

And they just didn't achieve the same softness that naan usually has. Mine were very chewy (probably from all the mixing and kneading), but they didn't feel like naan. Good, but not great. I think I'd rather just get the frozen ones from TJ's.

TWD: Pecan Sticky Buns

I am really happy that I decided to cut these babies in half. I felt much less guilty about only smearing 1 entire stick of butter in a pan than if I had had to do it 2x. In halving the recipe, I messed up the filling amount and only stuck 1/2 the amount of cinnamon and pecans inside the rolls.

Either way, these were good, but not quite as amazing as I expected. Don't get me wrong, I will eat them all and cry myself to sleep. However, I thought the caramel would be caramelier. All my butter sort of just ran out of the pan when I inverted. Maybe I should have let them sit for a minute. 

And you can't deny that they are pretty darn cute.

TWD: Hungarian Shortbread

Ohmygod so much butter. This recipe has 1 pound of butter in it. That's a bit intimidating. Maybe we shouldn't think about it. It's so delicious and simple.

I baked the bottom layer for an initial 15 minutes per the advice of others and used raspberry jam. So delicious.

French Fridays: Coconut Friands

Coconut friands, you were pretty delicious. I love all that coconut taste. And you were so small that I ate a lot of you. I'm not sure that I think of you as more that a mini muffin, but we can call you "friand" to make us both feel elevated.

TWD: Lemon Loaf Cake

My feelings on this one: Good, but would be better with whipped cream or as a base for something. Easy. Fast. Normal ingredients. It wasn't as moist as I would have liked. Not my favorite, but definitely would have been awesome with whipped cream and berries.

TWD: Pizza Rustica

This was way easier and way tastier than I thought it would be. The dough came together perfectly in the food processor.

I used part-skim ricotta and pepperoni as the meat.

It came together fast and beautifully. 

My lattice was a little smaller.

And it didn't brown up as much as I wanted, but it tasted good!

I was a little scared that it was going to be too eggy from the looks of it, but not at all! We're having lunch brought in at work today and I'm sad that I don't get to eat my leftovers! I loved the sweet crust with the spiciness of the pepperoni. This was a winner.

French Fridays: Cocoa Sables

I hadn't ever made slice and bake cookies until the rugelach. I guess I'm fully on the bandwagon now and I'm totally cool with that.

The dough is buttery and crumbly. It's actually a really fun dough to play with. 

And turn into a giant chocolate tube.

And then wait for 3 hours (I waited until the next day, which is hard for me).

Very cute, very delicious cookies. Mine didn't spread too much. Perfect little tea party treats, if you're into that. I made half the recipe and brought a bunch into work today so that I don't eat them all myself. Because seriously, I could.

TWD: Irish Soda Bread

There is nothing bad about freshly baked bread. Especially when it's holiday themed.

This bread is ridiculously easy and very awesome for French toast.

French Fridays: Cheese souffle

These were the fussiest scrambled eggs I've ever made.

French Fridays: saint-germain-des-pres onion biscuits

"Are these from a can or did you make them?"

"I made them."

"They taste like biscuits."

I halved the recipe and had just enough to serve with baked potato soup and leftovers. I used a canning funnel to cut and loved the mini size. These were winners!

TWD: Rugelach

These were an all-day affair, but worth it. The dough has to chill for 2 hours and then the logs chill for at least another 4.

The first batch might not have been rolled tightly enough because they busted a little bit and burnt a bit on the bottom.

The second batch I only baked for 20 minutes and they came out a little better. I really don't care so much how they look because they taste delicious. I love the cream cheese dough.

I used a combination of macadamias, almonds, and pecans for the nuts, apricot preserves instead of lekvar, and dried peaches and tart cherries. I'm interested to see what other combos people used. It's a great way of using up pantry ingredients.

Strawberry cheesecake

My first project with the new mixer. Happy birthday James!