Spaghetti Carbonara

 Today I tried out a recipe that I have been wanting to try for a long time.

I love Spaghetti Carbonara…I know, it’s strange for the girl who doesn’t like eggs to choose a dish that requires raw ones, but still.

It’s good.

And not at all like the version I’ve gotten from restaurants.

It is fast and easy and only has 5 ingredients. Yay.

The recipe is here.

Marshmallows

I have been making a lot of goodies this week, and wrapping them up to give away as holiday gifts.  I made my gramma’s Caramel Corn, I found a recipe for Muddy Buddies, sometimes known as Puppy Chow. And I made some Cocoa Mix and Marshmallows to go with it. 

Leaning tower of spongy sugar.

I am very excited about the Marshmallows, I have been wanting to make those for a long time.  I knew that they were supposed to be pretty easy, but I was still hesitant.  I don’t know if I was scared of making a mess, or a mistake, or ending up with something that is inedible.  

I did end up making a huge mess, but it wasn’t all Marshmallows, and I did make a mistake and have to double the batch right from the beginning.  But the inedible part didn’t happen.

These Marshmallows are really good.  They taste like store-bought marshmallows, but so much better.  So much better.

I used the recipe from Annie’s Eats - Vanilla Bean Marshmallows.  It is a very good place to start.  She explains steps clearly and talks about her experience with them.  I go to Annie’s Eats for a lot of inspiration.

So, so many left.

Strawberry Lemonade Ice Cubes

More strawberry uses. 

I was in the trailer the other day, listening to some show that was left on the TV, and heard this suggestion. Instead of drinking flavored drinks like vitamin water, tea or other sugary drinks, add some fruit to water and let it sit overnight. The water takes the flavor from the fruit and tastes pretty amazing. I was using strawberries with a dash of lemon juice, but this can be done with any fruit: oranges, limes, raspberries, peaches, even cucumbers. 

That made me think of ice cubes, who knows why. But I decided that I needed some strawberry ice cubes for water and lemonade and tea. So I filled a couple trays with strawberries, and when that didn’t seem quite enough, I added a bit of lemonade to fill the spaces. They are pretty delicious and won’t water down your drinks. They make it taste better.

Snickerdoodle Sandwiches

My new friend, Beth, and I made ice cream yesterday.  She had just gotten a new ice cream maker she NEEDED to try.  

So we used the basic recipe that came with the machine.  

It turned out rich and creamy and amazing.

We had to share it, so I made some cookies for sandwiches.  Snickerdoodle cookies.  Then we handed out mini ice cream sandwiches to the roughnecks.  

I think they were a hit.  

• I used 3 t Baking Powder instead of Baking Soda and Cream of Tartar

I found the recipe at Food.com

Éclairs, Take II

I tried to make Éclairs again.

This time they turned out much cuter. I used a pastry bag to pipe them out on to the pan. It worked quite well once I got the hang of finishing the puff. The pastry is extremely sticky. That’s why they have some funky tails and Mohawks.

I also dipped them in chocolate this time. So they really were éclairs. They were fun, itty bitty things. They ended up about three inches long and an inch and a half wide.

Sadly, the cream from MyBakingdom didn’t set properly so I made an emergency batch of pudding from a box. I was rather disappointed at how much everyone loved it.

Éclairs

Recently, when I was home for a week and dancing as usual, Shawn asked me what I was going to bring the next day. I didn’t have anything planned so I asked what he’d suggest. Immediately he said éclairs. He was joking and quite obviously didn’t expect me to actually make them. They are quite intimidating. They seem so fancy and elegant that they have to be hard to make, right?


Turns out they’re not so bad. Probably I’ll make these quite often. Also I learned a new trick today to pipe them through a pastry bag rather than shape them by hand. This is a very good idea, and probably will reduce the time shaping them by 5/6. They also take a very long time to cook, but that leaves time to make the filling at the glaze (I cheated and didn’t make the glaze because, as usual, they took slightly more time than I expected, and I procrastinated a bit too much).

But they were still pretty amazing. And Shawn immediately hid half of them to take home. I should have told him I slaved over them for 23 hours, but I wasn’t quite that quick.

Choux Pastry

½ c Butter
1 c Water
¼ t Salt
1 c Flour
4 Eggs

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter in the water. Add salt and flour, and stir until a sticky batter is formed, it should glom together in a ball in the pan. Remove the pastry from heat, and place it in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat it until it begins to be glossy about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until the batter is smooth.

Using a spatula, scoop the dough into a pastry bag with a large round tip. Pipe into strips about 4 inches long, 1 inch wide and ½ and inch tall. Bake the éclairs for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back. Bake for another 20 minutes. Finally, reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake for 10 minutes more, until the éclairs are golden brown. Transfer the éclairs to a wire cooling rack and allow them to cool.

Here is a good tutorial for the whole process. I haven’t tried her filling yet, but I’ll experiment on a few before posting my favorite.

Creme Brulee

Today I made Crème Brulee and Chocolate Mousse. But I’ll post the mousse later, when I remember to take pictures. It was light and creamy and nothing like I imagined. PS it was an experiment. Cupcake has been harassing me for ages to make it for her. And then she didn’t even come to dinner to try it.

My parents say they’re having it for breakfast tomorrow.

I even didn’t think it was too bad and I’m not a custard fan. It was probably the vanilla bean that I used. It was a first for me. They smell pretty amazing.

I did cheat and not add the crack. If you want to do that, after the cups have chilled, sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the top and melt it with a hand torch, or very carefully in the oven, set to broil.

Crème Brulee


4 c Whipping Cream
1 whole Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise (or 1 T Vanilla Extract)
10 Egg Yolks
¾ c Sugar
6 T Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Pour cream into a saucepan. Add vanilla and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. While cream is simmering whip egg yolks with the sugar until pale yellow and thick.

Strain cream using a fine mesh strainer.

Whip yolks while very slowly drizzling in warm cream. Go slow so the eggs don't cook!

Place ramekins onto a rimmed baking sheet. Pour custard mixture into ramekins (I had 11 small custard cups). Pour water in bottom of baking sheet until it comes halfway up the ramekins. Bake for 24 minutes, or until just set. Do not allow to get brown.

Cool ramekins on countertop, and chill for at least 2-3 hours. Cover in plastic wrap to prevent a layer to form on top.

Recipe from Pioneer Woman