Grandma's Tortelettes (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

This month's Daring Bakers' Challenge was holiday celebration cookies (hosted by Peta of Peta Eats).  This challenge had two parts - to make one of the dozen recipes listed by Peta, and to make another celebration cookie of our choosing.  For the second requirement  I picked out and made some of my grandma's holiday cookies - ones that she called tortelettes.  Due to an unfortunate kitchen malfunction, I didn't get to the first of the criteria.  So, this post is all about grandma's tortelettes!

Walnut Carrot Cake

I've always disliked carrot cake.  In my experience, it is often too dense, the frosting is usually too sweet, and it almost always commits what I consider to be a major cake felony - it contains chunks of nuts and carrots right in the cake, which messes with the texture in an inexcusable way (this is totally my opinion - I know lots of people like this). 

I decided to create a carrot cake that I would like: light, moist, and free from chunks in the cake - all without losing the carroty-ness and nutty-ness that defines a good carrot cake.

Baking Experiment! Cupcakes with Varying Sweeteners

I've been neglecting my studies.  Last year, I got How Baking Works by Paula Figoni as a gift and have been slowly (very slowly) working my way through it.  At the end of each section, there are experiments that demonstrate the concept being taught.  I learned about different flours in a previous experiment, but I hadn't done a single experiment since then.  It's time to change that - this weekend I did an experiment to determine the effect of the amount and type of sweetener used in pound cupcakes.

Pumpkin Pie Cookies

I've been itching to try a new rendition of the pie cookie.  After hearing that we would be having a small Halloween celebration at work, I caught myself wanting to bring in some delicious pumpkin pie, and decided this would be an excellent opportunity to try pumpkin pie cookies.

Chocolate Mousse Mille-Feuille (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

It's October 27th!  That means it's time for another Daring Bakers' Challenge.  This month's challenge was to create something called mille-feuille, which means "thousand sheets" in French.  The reason this is called "thousand sheets" is because the buttery pastry part of this dessert is folded and rolled out a gazillion times (I may be exaggerating...a bit).  Typically, mille-feuille is filled with a vanilla pastry cream.  I felt like I'd just used pastry cream in the pâte à choux swans challenge, so I decided to use chocolate mousse instead.

Our October 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Suz of Serenely Full. Suz challenged us to not only tackle buttery and flaky puff pastry, but then take it step further and create a sinfully delicious Mille Feuille dessert with it!

Chai Tea Roll Cake

I seem to base a lot of my baking projects off of beverages don't I?  From margarita cupcakes to cinnamon latte cupcakes to pumpkin spice latte cupcakes, I tend to find a lot of inspiration in delicious drinks.  In fact, whenever I have a drink that I like, I usually ponder its possibilities as a macaron or cupcake.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

Starbucks is serving Pumpkin Spice Lattes (ermahgerd!).  I guess that means it's officially fall.  In the spirit of the season, and because I had a serious craving for latte cupcakes, I decided to create a cupcake version of this tasty autumn beverage.  The cupcakes are filled with a delicious from-scratch pumpkin spice butter, which is also featured in the buttercream alongside dark brown sugar.