Saturday, August 7, 2010

Sugar Cookies


I like making cookies so this was fun.
One day we were bored with nothing to do so I said "Why don't we make some sugar cookies?"
My mom said o.k so we started. We made Alton Brown sugar cookies. We took the suggestions to add vanilla extract and orange zest.

The hardest part was sifting the flour because our sifter kept clogging. These were the hard kind so we could cut them into different shapes. We did an igloo. penguin, flower, and a heart. We did lots of them.They were DELICIOUS! They also tasted a little bit softer after a day.

I had fun decorating them with violet/pink icing. I hope you like this recipe too!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Watermelon Sorbet



Watermelon is delicious. It is sweet and a bit sour. It's really juicy. The best part about watermelon is the flavor. I love eating watermelon.

It's hot outside this summer and I thought watermelon sorbet would be great to cool off with. Sorbet doesn't have milk in it since I'm lactose intolerant.

The first step to make watermelon sorbet is to make a simple syrup. If you want to make a simple syrup you do a 2 to 1 ratio of sugar to water. For example, a half cup of sugar to a fourth cup of water. Put it on medium heat and stir til it's thick and all the sugar is dissolved. Then you let it set til it's cooled off.

Next, we pureed watermelon. We added a bit of lemon juice and the simple syrup.

Finally, we added it to the ice cream maker and let it mix.

The watermelon sorbet was very sweet. I would put in less of the simple syrup. I used a little less than half a cup.

If you want to make this, make sure to use less sugar and taste it as you add the sugar. It gets sweeter as it gets cold.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Every Saturday, we have pizza and games. We play new games as a family. We are learning to play one called The Great Dalmuti. It's a game my parents like to play. They played it in college.

I like playing the games because it's fun. It's a tradition I want to teach my kids.

We make our own pizzas, unless my mom is sick. We usually make three large pizzas. This is enough to feed all of us.

The recipe we use for pizza dough is from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It's easy! The easiest part is adding the ingredients. You add them in order: liquid to dry in a bowl. Then you mix it with a spoon and not your hands! I used my hands and it looked like I had a glove of dough! YUK! Then, you let it rise for 4 hours. Then it's ready for pizza! yummy! It makes enough for four large pizzas. My mom saves the rest of the dough for rolls for Sunday dinner.

We use a marinara sauce. Victoria marinara is my favorite but it's expensive. Instead, we use the sauce with the dude on it.

My favorite kind has lots of cheese, pepperoni and olives. We also make pepperoni, cheese, combo, and last week my dad had buffalo chicken pizza. That pizza had buffalo chicken sauce, chicken, cheese, mushrooms and olives. I picked an olive off and it was pretty spicey! My mom's favorite pizza has tomatoes and basil. I like it, too, except for the tomatoes.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

I picked this recipe for breakfast. It is from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. I picked it because we were out of milk. We only had buttermilk.

I thought it was ok. It wasn't as good as the Krusteaz mix. I give it 2.5 stars out of 5. I am not sure if I'd make it again. My mom bought more Krusteaz so it will be a few weeks before we are out again. I think it might be good with strawberries in it or maybe chocolate chips.

I doubled the recipe. Here it is, not doubled.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes (minus the blueberries since we didn't have any!)

1 C all purpose flour
2 T cornmeal
1 T sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
1 C buttermilk
2 T cooking oil
1 C fresh or frozen blueberries

1. In medium mixing bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and 1/4 t salt. (I don't know why the salt wasn't listed in the ingredients). Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture and set aside.

2. In another mixing bowl, stir together the egg, buttermilk and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture and stir. Batter should be lumpy. Fold in blueberries.

3. For each pancake, pour about 1/4 c of pancake mixture on to hot lightly greased heavy skillet. Cook over medium heat about 2 minutes on each side until pancakes are golden brown. Turn to second side when pancakes bubble.

makes 8-10 pancakes.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Carrot Cake




I made a carrot cake using Alton Brown's recipe.

It tasted like carrot bread. It had a dense texture. It wasn't light and fluffy like other cakes.





The recipe was pretty easy to follow. The hardest for me was separating the eggs. The recipe calls for using yogurt in place of some of the oil.

It also had a recipe for cream cheese icing. It was really easy and the best part of the recipe!

I am looking for a lighter, fluffier, and sweeter carrot cake. I give this recipe three and a half stars.

Here are some other carrot cake recipes I haven't tried, but want to:

Paula Deen's

This is one my mom made for my grandpa and he said it was the best carrot cake he's ever eaten! Best Carrot Cake Ever I'm not so sure about the pineapple.