Recently in Baking Category

I am very honored to have my photo of Bakesale Betty Bakery selected for the article "A New Gourmet Ghetto" in The Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition for December 29.

See the full article here, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119888290037156475.html .

 

Once again it is that special time of year when wonderful baked goods come from my oven. The 6th Annual Festival of Desserts was quite fun this year as you see from the photos above. I will come back shortly to share recipes.

Congratulations to Alison "Bakesale Betty" Barakat and her husband, Michael Camp, on their birth of their daughter, Hazel Mary on November 6. Mom and baby are doing well. I got to chat briefly with Betty when I stopped by on Saturday for a fried chicken sandwich and a slice of really yummy apple pie. Truly a guilty pleasure but I did take a short bike ride before going there. :-)

Yummy!

Cranberry Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups rolled oats
2 cups dried cranberries
2 cups pecan halves
1 12 oz bag of chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Combine flour, baking soda, and cinnamon; gradually stir into creamed mixture. Fold in rolled oats, cranberries, chocolate chips, and pecans. Drop rounded spoonfuls and press them by hand onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in preheated oven. Remove cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

Tips and pointers:

I have made these cookies for a few years now but I wanted them to be more chewy and soft. My secret baking angel suggested that I use 1/4 cup less flour and also finely chop the cranberries and pecans. Press the cookie dough flat by hand on the cookie sheet which makes them spread wider. I bake my cookies for 12 minutes then pull them out of the oven as they will keep cooking as they are cooling which makes them more chewy.

Makes approximately 36 cookies. (More like 4 dozen.)

This week's treat is very yummy banana bread. I decided to plate a few slices, garnish them with strawberries and take a few photos.

Banana Bread

The banana bread is the Fanny Farmer Pumpkin Bread recipe with some minor changes.

www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000842pumpkin_bread.php

Instead of pumpkin puree, use a cup of banana puree (but leave it a little lumpy.)
Instead of olive oil, use vegetable or canola oil.
Omit the nutmeg and allspice
Add 2 tablespoons of honey to your wet ingredients.

Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Spread liberally over the banana bread dough before placing in the oven.

The aroma will make you want to hurt someone!!!

Thanks to Bakesale Betty for her guidance and mentoring on this yummy recipe.

This photo was from my first night apprenticing at Bakesale Betty. My personal goal is to sharpen my baking skills. Also, this is a far cry from being a computer geek. It was a lot of work but very fun. More photos here.

My task for the evening was prepping rhubarb pies. Betty started me out cutting out dough in circles and pressing it into the pie tins. Next, I prepared the rhubarb filling which consist of 25 pounds of rhubarbs, sugar, freshly squeezed orange juice, and orange zest. I mixed the rhubarb filling in a very large steel bowl with a large paddle which was like an oar. I rowed through the mixture and poured it into the pie shells. I took a dinner break and feasted on Betty's pasta with portobello mushrooms (very yummy!) then she showed me how to make the lattice to cover the pies. I had never made a lattice before. It was much simpler than I expected but it took me a couple of pies to get the hang of cutting away the extra dough. The final touch was brushing the lattice with cream and spreading sugar on the top of each pie. I loaded each cookie sheet of pies on the rack and placed the rack into oven. I prepped a total of 13 pies. I learned from Betty that it is not about speed but quality when baking.

Betty's oven rack is amazing. The rack spins in the oven so the baked goods cook evenly. Here are the finished pies:

Betty gave me a couple of the pies I made and some other baked goodies to take to work with me. My co-workers loved everything and asked that I give Betty their thanks. Thank you to Betty and everyone at Bakesale Betty for a great experience. I definitely look forward to doing it again.

Bon appetit!

This was fun. I took this photo while I was waiting to get a couple of slices of their yummy banana bread. Bakesale Betty is located on the corner of 51st Street and Telegraph Avenue in Oakland.

It actually looks like I am standing behind the counter when I am actually in front of the counter. Yes, believe it or not, as much as I love to bake, I occasionally go out for baked goods, especially if they are good. It also gives me new baking ideas. Recently, I met a lady at a friend's dinner party who asked me if I ever thought about having my own bakery. At the time, I told her no, but the idea has been swirling around in my head for the past few weeks. I am not sure that I am ready for my own business but I do plan on talking to a couple of restaurant owner's to learn more about the business. I will keep myself open to the possibilities.

These are photos from the 4th Annual Festival of Desserts and other holiday baking. Over 40 people stopped by for dessert during the course of the evening and I still had leftovers. Everyone had a great time and I am already thinking about this year's festival. I did learn something important along the way. The "bake cake now and glaze later" approach will have you glazing and frosting cakes all evening.

The desserts included the following:

• Pecan Tarts
• Heath Bar Chocolate Brownies
• Cranberry Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies w/Nuts
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• McNannygocious Pound Cake
• Egg Nog Pound Cake
• 7 Up Cake
• Chocolate Brownies
• Lunchroom Butter Cookies
• Sweet Potato Pie
• Chocolate Egg Nog Rum Cake
• Egg Nog Rum Cake
• Lemon Pound Cake
• Hershey's Chocolate Swirl Chip Cookies
• Red Velvet Cake

I am ready for the holiday baking season. Although, it is a lot of work over these next few weeks, I look forward to this time of year. I have stocked up on all of my baking supplies. The sales have been decent but you have to be careful not too buy too much? How much brown and powdered sugar are you going to use after the holidays? Butter prices creep upward every year. I can remember when you could buy a pound of butter for $.79 around the holidays. I picked up 8 pounds of butter from Costco for about $2.00 per pound. That is about the best deal around plus I do not want to burn up a tank of gas to save a few pennies.

I am staying local for the holidays this year. Of course, my family was not happy about this decision but I really wanted to just take some days off from work, relax, and work on projects around the house. I will attend church on Thanksgiving morning and spend the rest of the day visiting friends that I have not seen in awhile. Good food, good family and friends, and good music are what make my holidays special. We all have so much to be thankful for.

Hope you and yours have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.