Red Velvet Creme Brulee and an Important Announcement (yeah it is!!)

So world, I post w/ some exciting/unique news.

No, Nobody’s Pregnant, Engaged or Married.

I’m officially going back to skool/school. I’m goin to skool to officially become a “Baker”.

That’s right, after talkin a Big Game, yours truly is doing work and now going to skool to learn baking…for reals.

I’ve already enrolled in 3 courses and I start in August….so far I got quite the reaction on Facebook…which I wasnt expectin.

Ranging from “Im So Proud” to “About Damn Time”… But I hadnt let y’all know. So now whenever y’all have a wedding coming up, which apparently is pretty common, theses days.

Now I know whats it like when people announce their pregnant. Or engagement..

But lets be real peoples: Pregnancy Announcement> Engagement Announcement.

So with that I offer a celebratory Creme Brulee…Red Velvet Creme Brulee.

I may/may not have an obsession w/ Red Velvet… kinda a Southern thing I guess.

Thats Pre-Brulee fyi…

So the next few months shall be filled w/Exciting, Terror, Anxious and the occasional “Oh yeah I forgot, Im in skool now”

But I’m glad I FINALLY did this..after much delay and Speeding Tickets.

I would say let this be a lesson to y’all out there: Dont Talk About It, BE About It!

Also in order to get the Garden of Your Dreams, You gotta dig thru a lot of Crap first….

You know Fertalizer is technically “Crap”…anyways, more Creme Brulee…

That’s all I got for today…

If y’all like what y’all see, Comment, Like and/or Subscribe to this bad boy..

I do update this sucker, Fairly Often I should say..

Now excuse me, I must find some Mothers Day Cards..

I refuse to be that guy who sends Mothers Day Cards LATE!!!…..AGAIN!!!

Story of My Life.

Red Velvet Ice Cream…The Groundhog Lied To Us All!!!

Well world, we almost toward the month of May and for most of y’all, y’all dont have sunshine.

Y’all got Snow. And I’m just gonna put it out there: That Groundhog lied to us all.

Heck even here in Texas, it’s in the low 60′s…normally we hit 80 by March. It’s CRAY CRAY!!

With that said, who wants Ice Cream???

Red Velvet Ice Cream that is….

What conspired this concoction? Well…. just random thought in my head to try it.

A lot of the time, it’s just random… hey I wonder how’d this taste in “Red Velvet” or…

You get the point.

So How’d I do it? Well it was kinda easy if you can make Ice Cream…

Which is TOTES easy!!! Yeah I just said that…anywho

To make this

You need the following

Red Velvet Ice Cream

• 1 1/4 C Heavy Cream
• 3/4 C Buttermilk
• 3 Eggs
• 2/3 C Sugar
• 2 Tbspoons Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 1/2 Tbspoons Cocoa Powder
• Red Food Coloring

Sidenotes:

• Heat the Heavy Cream with 2/3C of Sugar in a Saucepan
• Whilst that heats up, add the Eggs, Buttermilk, Brown Sugar and whisk together til it comes together.
• Temper the Cream aka “Add the Hot Cream little by little while Whisking The Egg Mixture” til there’s no more cream in the  pan, then add it back in the Saucepan back on the stove.
• Add the Cocoa Powder and Red Food Coloring and Vanilla.
• Pour in a bowl over Ice and stir til it cools.
• If you got an Ice Cream Maker, use it.
• If you don’t have an Ice Cream Maker, put custard in a blender and place in the freezer for an 90 minutes and take out and pulse to break up the ice crystals. Repeat every 45 minutes for about 3-4 times.

And you’ll get somethin like This:

Fancy huh???

Welp, that’s all I got for now y’all.

If y’all like what y’all see?

Comment, Like and/or Subscribe…I do update this sucker though, so it aint like a “Where’d he go???” type of thing.

Til then, Stay warm… Something I prolly wouldnt be saying at this time of the year.

What’s next snow in June?

#kiddingnotkidding

my attempt at making Eclairs. Look good huh?

I really don’t know where to start with this one here: Eclairs.

They kinda look like those long johns at Shipleys or whatever Doughnut shop you can think of?

Is Krispy Kreme still around?

Anyways, how you make Eclairs comes from makin a  thing called “Choux Pastry”.

Choux Pastry is the basis for not only Eclairs, but also Cream Puffs or even “Crocquembouche” aka that giant tower of mini-doughnut looking balls.

Is it me (cuz I’m a guy) or has that word become weird to use over time?

Anyways. To make choux pastry is pretty easy. Even for a guy like me. And you’ll get somethin like this:

What you would need is this:

• 1 C Flour
• 1 C Water
• 1/4 C Butter
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 4 Eggs
• BAKING TIME 15 min @400, then 30 min @ 350 degrees.

Sidenote:

• Put everything BUT the Flour in a sauce pan and let it come to a boil. You want it at a rolling boil aka where it’s Bubblin like crazy.
• Then take it off the heat and dumb the flour. And stir like mad til it becomes a ball
• Then once you let it somewhat cool down, add one egg at a time. You can use a mixer like I did. Prob save you an arm. Just saying.
• Also it’ll look like somethin went wrong when you add the eggs in (one at a time again.), because it’ll start separating. But it’ll come together and look like smooth and creamy.

Also when you dumb the flour, be sure it’s all at once, but in small cups. I used a the 1 Cup and got splashed with hot butter water on my thumb.

Guess you can say that note is rule of thumb? HELLO!!!

I just wanted to do that. Don’t Judge.

From there, with a plastic bag or piping bag, squirt out the pastry in 3-4 inch pieces. And Bake for 15 minutes at 400 Degrees, then 350 for 30 minutes.

Et VOILA

Nice & Crunchy on the outside, Soft & Chewy on the inside.

From there, you can dip ‘em in Chocolate, Peanut Butter. Whatever your heart’s desire. (Maybe a Nutella spread or something)

They do make a nice dessert, or breakfast food. They kind are like croissants, sorta.

And thats it.  In other news, my bracket for March Madness is still (barely) somewhat in tact. HOORAY!! Even though, I’m near the bottom of the barrel in point standings.

Hopefully my bracket wont be burned just yet. Although there were some upsets I wanted to see happen.

UNC-Ashville, y’all got hosed.

But that’s all I got for today. Enjoy Eclair making, guys & gals.

If y’all like what you see, comment, like and/or subscribe. I really do keep this sucker updated regularly.

BTW. I decided to read the Hunger Games.  I decided to follow the crazy trend. Crazy stuff. But a good read.

But here’s one more pic of Eclairs. Til then, DEUCES!!!

Everybody loves Cinnamon Rolls. Especially the from scratch kind

 

It’s December. Dang. No more “No Shave November” huh? Well I’ve got a full beard, so I’ll just trim it down I guess. If I didn’t have my beard, I look 14. Maybe that’s a good thing? It’s December and that means it’s officially X-Mas music 24/7 time.

I myself am a Nat King Cole “Christmas Song” guy, I can listen that song multiple times a day. That and Mariah’s “All I want for Christmas is you”. I’m already in the Holiday spirit after that.  So what does x-mas music and shaving have to do with cinnamon rolls?

No idea.

I just figured I’d babled a bit. Did it work?

Anyways I ended up making Cinnamon Rolls one morning a few days after Turkey Day. I swore I’d go on baking sabbatical but that aint happen. I found a Cinnamon Roll recipe that didnt require yeast! Crazy right.

Not that I don’t like yeast, it’s just a pain in the butt to wait around for it to “activate” then later let it “rest”. Plus if not careful, it’ll make your food taste like beer.

But why did I make cinnamon rolls? Well it just so happened I bought a 1/2 gallon of buttermilk and barely used any of it on biscuits. And buttermilk will go bad faster than whatever analogy or cheesy pun you want to insert here.

So they came out quite nicely actually. While cutting them up was no fun, I was amazed at how good they looked and how good they smelled. That’s usually a tell-tale sign.

You do eat with your eyes first. As they say in the cooking world.

And they did get eaten. My aunt was amazed by the fact I just made cinnamon rolls from scratch like no big thing. But it really wasnt. For me anyways. I guess I got that skillz. Maybe.

I gotta start coming up with X-mas gifts (Why is it x-mas? anybody know?) for people.  The last 2 years, I’ve made food gifts. What shall I make this year? Tell me!!!

Anyways, that it for now. Check out ole-posts (I spelled that on purposed. Look at me be clever). And subscribe to this sucker, if you like what you see/read. More than likely what you see, its a food blog after all.  I gotta shave.

 

The SnickerDoodle Cake. Yeah I said Cake.

Last weekend, I was at a Hoedown. First time I’ve ever been to one. Good times. But I wasnt there just for the good times. As those annoying people who compete on those reality game shows say “I’m not here to make friends!!!” Which btw, why do they say that? Is that supposed to scare folks or something???

Anyways, they had a cake baking contest. Your’s truly HAD to compete. I mean come on. It’s a given right? I figured I’d be the only guy competing in this thing, cuz apparently “Men Don’t Bake”. Whoever said that, I’d slap you with buttercream frosting.

So after a few days of deep searching for ideas, I came across it : The Snicker-Doodle Cake.

 

I wanted to think outside the box, be original in a sea of Red Velvet and Hummingbirds (which btw the one who won best looking looked REAL GOOD). It  came out how I wanted to after a late night of baking and early morning frosting. Yeah that’s right I got up at 7 in the morning, on a SATURDAY, to frost a cake. That’s how much I was in this sucker to win!!

But I didn’t win. A carrot cake won.

Oh well. I got a lot of positive feedback on the cake. And I’d like to think I won most original cake,right? Also I’d like to think I came in a close 2nd maybe? But none-the-less I got show off my baking skillz and had a good time hearing people talk about it. This may sound weird, but when you have finished a cake, it’s kinda like your kid. Despite whatever flaws that are hidden underneath, you want it to be loved by everybody.  Crazy huh?? But here goes my baby, right here: (Oh one more thing, if you like what you see/read, subscribe to this thing. I keeps it fresh. That was lame. I apologize.)

 

Honey Dew Sorbet. Wait What?

So I’ve been on a bit of a “Hiatus” if you will. My trusty camera was broke. This made me sad. But now that it’s fixed. It’s all good now. So lately I’ve been obsessed with the dessert Sorbet. What is it exactly? Basically a fruit ice cream minus the eggs, cream and milk.

It’s a real easy thing to make too. One night at this restaurant, I tried Grapefruit Sorbet. It was GOOD. Didnt think that was possible. But Hey. Never know right? So of course the so-called “King of DIY” that I am, you know I had to try to make some. DIY sounds a little too close to DUI. It’s more a challenge saying then typing.

Anyways, I thought to try it with the Honey Dew melon. Something unusual. That  and I had bought one with making a fruit salad with it, but kinda forgot about it.  I don’t own an ice cream maker, so I had to make it the old-school way: Manually. It’s not hard, just a bit time consuming. Churning every 30 minutes is tough to remember. But no doubt it came out looking pretty and it even tasted like Honey Dew. SUCCESS!!! A bit sweet, but then again I think that’s Honey Dew for ya. So without further a dew (cheesy pun!! and I think that’s how you spell it.) Here’s the Honey Dew Sorbet

 

 

 

Carrot Cake and Pineapple Trifle aka fixed disaster

This is a lesson about life giving you lemons. Last week was mi padre’s b-day, and of course I was expected to make the b-day cake.  I decided on the classic carrot cake. I figured, no big. I done made the cake with the same recipe for damn near 2 years, got it.  However. (Note: I do take responsibility for my actions, but I also like to point it had been a looong time since I baked a cake) I somehow caused the cake to overflow all over the oven thus causing a lovely smoke fest in the kitchen. How embarrassing right?

But yes, even the allegedly talent cake maker like yours truly has a Snafu. (A nice way of saying screw up or the one w/the F word in it. Keep it PG folks). And it happened twice. (GASP!!! WHATS HAPPENED!!!) Now I had two sets of undersunk carrot cake, ready to be thrown away. Then my aunt threw the idea of taking it and putting it in a bowl and just serving it. I thought, NO. I wanted this sucker to look classy. Then I thought of the ” Trifle”. Basically the dessert version of lasagna. (Btw, why is there a “G” in there if you dont pronounce it?) And so I went with it cuz I had all that cream cheese frosting sitting in the fridge. I thought that it needed something to it. And then it hit me: Pineapple. I bought an whole Pineapple (note: PLEASE buy a whole pineapple, dont cop out and buy the chunks of it. It’s more fun to chop it up. Just saying.) early and chopped it up and threw it in that sucker. And Pops and the rest of the fam. loved it.

So in the sense, when life gives you lemons,you make the best damn lemonade possible.  Sorry for the long-wind story, but I figured I’d share that even ya boy has a SNAFU every now and then. But enjoy the photos my mishap.

Peach Lemonade. Heaven in a glass.

It’s (officially?) summertime. It only means two things: School’s out and it’s HOT as the dickens outside. (Side note: Anybody say dickens anymore??) Anyways, growing up and living Texas, theses were the fun times where you kept your butt indoors to not catch heat stroke. But maybe this is just one southern here speaking,but living in the south during the summertime: you gotta have Lemonade. GOTS TO!

There is sweet tea, but I’ve never liked tea though. Shocking I know. A southerner not like sweet tea.  But lemonade is one of those drinks that is necessary. Whether you laying out by the pool or indoors w/the AC on blast while the weather is 100+.  But having also growing up in Georgia. You gotta love peaches. I learned the hard way that peaches only are good during the summer. But I decided to make this attempt of Peach Lemonade after I saw it on a menu at a restaurant called “Bubby’s”.  And yes, this another one of my “Summertime Projects” I should consider putting a book together.Cuz I got sooo many things to make.

I have no idea if I replicated their recipe, but I put my twist to it.  But after the first sip, RIDONKULOUS! Even one of my friends “MED SCHOOL” (A nickname because he’s currently in Med School. Clever right?) Agreed. Now I gotta have this in my fridge esp when we’re heading thru the worst part of the summertime. It’s even better after a long day at the office. Well, for me it is anyways. But I’ll stop blabbing and show y’all. Enjoy til next time.

 

 

The Summer of Whoopie (Pies) continues…Vanilla w/ Root Beer

So whoopie pies have become my new obsession. I think they should be the new cupcake and get their own show on Food Network where folks compete against each other and make obscure things with Whoopie Pies. Not saying but just saying. Pardon my rant, I’ve managed to do two 5k’s this week and I’m TIRED. I did managed to break my record but my goal is to crack 25 minutes.

Anyways, back to the food. Last post I said I was gonna do a “Project” of desserts. Where throughout the summer, I’m making different desserts that are (sorta) a fit for the summertime.  From Whoopie pies to Scones to…whatever else I can think of. First up: Vanilla Bean Whoopie Pies w/ Root Beer Filling. I kinda wanted to do a take on the Root Beer Float.

Outcome: Pretty Good. Though w/ Root Beer, I would add a couple tablespoons of it. Dont add too much other wise, it’ll end up lookin soupy. But Enjoy. Marvel(?) at them. I’ll try to keep y’all posted more often with what i’m fixin to make next, so subscribe if you like. But enjoy the pics.

  

Flourless Chocolate Cake. Hold Up, What??

Last week, I made a cake for a girl I used to work with. However, it had to be flourless (GASP!) because she’s on a glute-free diet. For a while I had no idea that was even possible. Shows what I know. But then again I recall I had done this before, a few months ago I made a triple-mousse cake.(I just figured how to do the link thingy. Im so proud!!) And the dark-chocolate part had no flour in it. So this wasnt too hard to pull off.  You just need a lot of eggs.  I got the recipe from the book “BAKED”. It’s become one of my favorite books to read.

Note: Separating the eggs, VERY importante. The egg whites once whipped into foamy peaks is what gives the cake it’s shape. Otherwise, it’s a droopy mess that will seep out of the Springform pan.

Oh and Happy June 1st everybody! No idea what that means on the calendar. But I decided this summer, I got a list of stuff I’m gonna attempt to bake and as well as beverages this summer. Gotta have somethin to wash down all these desserts with. Stay tuned y’all!