30 Nov
Empire Cookies + Giveaway!
Posted by Michelle as Cookies, Giveaways | 319 Comments
We are one day away from December and this past weekend has thrown me completely into Christmas mode. To be honest, it really doesn’t take much, but two days of Black Friday shopping and a few Christmas carols, and I am ready to dive head first into the shopping, gift wrapping, and holiday baking. My grandma has made empire cookies around the holidays for as long as I can remember, and they have always been one of my favorites. My loving them is a bit surprising since I usually prefer rich desserts, but I can never get enough of the buttery shortbread-type cookies with jam sandwiched between them and topped with a simple icing. I can’t believe they haven’t been on the site prior to this, so I’m thrilled to share them with you. Let the holiday baking begin!
24 Nov
Cake Order: Penn State & NASA
Posted by Michelle as Special Occasion Cakes | 19 Comments
Last week I delivered a cake order to Penn State’s main campus in State College, PA for a conference that was being held by Penn State’s Astrophysics department in conjunction with NASA. The two organizations worked to develop and launch a satellite, Swift, and this conference marked the 5-year anniversary of the satellite going into orbit. The conference planners wanted to throw a little party at the end of the conference to celebrate the milestone.
We decided on creating three cakes – one representing Penn State, one representing NASA, and the third representing the actual satellite. All of the cakes are 12″ and 8″ stacked rounds, covered in fondant, with fondant stripes on the bottom tier to match the logo colors, with buttercream borders. One was a white cake with raspberry filling, one was a chocolate cake with a chocolate buttercream filling, and the third was a lemon cake with lemon buttercream filling.
The Penn State Nittany Lion logo was created using fondant:
The NASA logo was created using fondant, with the “swoosh” and stars on the logo decorated with white royal icing:
The Swift cake included the program’s “Swift” logo in fondant on the front of the top tier, and a fondant depiction of the satellite itself on top:
This order was extremely well-received and it was fun to see some of the participants get a sneak peak of the cakes. They were all very excited about how they looked and enjoyed taking pictures of them.
23 Nov
Chocolate-Pistachio Biscotti
Posted by Michelle as Cookies | 26 Comments
A cousin of mine got married over the weekend and as is customary for most weddings in the Pittsburgh area, they had a large cookie table filled with goodies made by family and friends. If you’re from another area of the country, or from another country altogether, is this a tradition where you live? I don’t think I’ve ever been to a wedding in this area and there not been a large display of cookies made by family and friends of the bride and groom. It seems to transcend ethnicity, age, and just about every other factor you can think of. I personally think it’s great – along with the traditional wedding cake, guests can grab a cup of coffee and a plate of cookies to have with dessert. Most couples also provide take-out boxes at the table so when you leave the wedding, you can take some cookies home with you. It’s a great option for people who don’t like cake, and you get to sample some of the recipes that have been in the bride’s and groom’s families for years.
I was asked if I could make a couple different variations of biscotti to be included in the cookie table, and I was happy to oblige. I asked the bride if she wanted anything in particular and she asked for almond biscotti with cranberries and white chocolate (which I have made before and which you will see here on the site soon) and a chocolate biscotti with some type of nuts. I thought that pistachio would be an unexpected and delicious accompaniment to the chocolate; after all, they went together wonderfully in the spumoni I made over the summer. So I ran with that flavor combination.
19 Nov
Get Ready for the Holidays with A Taste of Sam’s
Posted by Michelle as Brown Eyed Baker Site News | 5 Comments
You may not have turned on the Christmas music yet, but like it or not, Thanksgiving is next week. The holiday flood gates have opened. I absolutely adore the holidays – it’s my favorite time of year – and I’m thoroughly excited about decking the halls. For a lot of people, food is a central part of holiday celebrations and so loading up on favorites becomes a critical activity this time of year.
Being an avid baker, I am a member and big fan of Sam’s Club, since I can snag 4 lbs of butter for $6 and 3 dozen eggs for $3, not to mention a lot of other things. I wanted to share with you all that Sam’s Club is holding its annual Taste of Sam’s event this coming weekend, starting tomorrow, Friday, November 20th through Sunday the 22nd. Both members and *non-members are invited to the festivities, where you can sample Sam’s holiday food offerings, ranging from appetizers to main dishes to dessert. To see the types of foods that will be offered and when, check out the entire Sample Before You Serve Guide.
In addition to the samples that you will be offered, Sam’s Club is also planning a number of cooking demonstrations as well. Below is a list of the demonstrations that are being held each day:
Hope you all have a great pre-Thanksgiving weekend and can take advantage of the opportunity to taste some new food and, at the very least, perhaps get some new ideas for dishes to serve for your holiday dinners. Enjoy! 
*If you aren’t currently a Sam’s Club member, simply print out the free one day pass on the last page of the Taste of Sam’s Guide. It looks like this:
18 Nov
Cheddar and Chiles Bread + Cookbook Giveaway!
Posted by Michelle as Giveaways, Yeast Breads | 252 Comments
After not doing a whole lot of bread baking over the summer I have come back in full force. I’ve been kneading up a storm, and this is one of my new favorite recipes. As you may have guessed from the Soft Cheese and Pepperoni Bread, I love cheese breads. Any kind of cheese, any shape – roll, loaf, bun – you name it and if it has cheese in it I will love it. I especially love sharp white cheddar, so it’s no surprise that this bread was calling my name. As soon as I saw the recipe it seemed like a perfect complement to a warm bowl of chili, and that’s exactly how I served it. Rich and tangy from the cheese with a subtle kick from the chiles, it’s a great bread to pair not only with chili, but any stews and hearty soups, as well as for sandwiches that you want to jazz up a bit.
17 Nov
Thick and Hearty Chili
Posted by Michelle as Soups, Stews and Chili | 26 Comments
Although it’s been rather spring-like here lately (oddly enough, it doesn’t quite feel fall-like), the bare trees and leaves littering the grass had me in the mood for a warm bowl of chili. I have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with chili. I love, love, love to eat it. But I hate trying to find recipes that I like. I never seem to find anything that knocks my socks off, and after doing another round of searching I finally decided to go with my gut and created my own recipe based on what I know I like and don’t like. I suppose that technically this would be considered Chili con Carne with beans (although chili powder is used in place of actual chili peppers). I love beans in my chili, so that’s a staple, and I really like the texture to be thick and hearty. If a spoonful can sit on top of a piece of bread without running off, then it’s a winner. I think I finally put together a recipe that incorporates all of my favorite aspects of chili; it has earned a permanent place in my recipe book, and I will certainly be making it again and again.
16 Nov
Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Crisp Squares
Posted by Michelle as Brownies and Bar Cookies, Candies and Confections | 40 Comments
The idea for these beauties was hatched when I made the Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars, which sport a chocolate, peanut butter and rice krispy mixture on top of gooey marshmallows. It’s insanely addicting and when making them, I have to refrain from just eating the topping straight out of the pan with a spoon. I decided that I needed to come up with a treat that combined the marshmallows, chocolate, peanut butter and rice krispies, and fast. I went back and forth between combining all of the ingredients together into the ever-popular treat squares, and making a peanut butter version that is then covered in chocolate. Sort of a la peanut butter cups. Now, peanut butter cups and Reese’s Pieces might be my favorite candies ever, so for that reason alone, I decided to go the chocolate-covered route.
12 Nov
Lebkuchen – German Christmas Cookies
Posted by Michelle as Cookies | 38 Comments
Back at the beginning of the week I put up a poll about holiday baking, asking what types of recipes you all would like to see featured here on Brown Eyed Baker leading up to the holiday season. (If you haven’t thrown in your two cents yet, head on over and vote!) In the comments section, Heather of Squirrel Bread asked about Lebkuchen and said that she had a couple of recipes but had yet to make them. I emailed her and told her I hadn’t heard of them but would do some research and plan on making them. Less than a day later I was browsing through some of my cookbooks just looking for ideas and inspiration and wouldn’t you know, I ran across a recipe for Lebkuchen. I considered it fate and set out to make a batch right then and there. I did some reading and research and looked at other recipes and came up with this gem.
11 Nov
Food Photography 101: The Basics
Posted by Michelle as How-To | 96 Comments
Thinking back to when I launched this site, I knew pretty much nothing about taking pictures of food. I made something, put it on a plate or in a bowl, put it on the counter or table, snapped a picture and ate it. It wasn’t until months later, when I was still blogging and photographing food on a very regular basis that I realized I had quite a bit to learn about how to make the food that I knew tasted fantastic look just as good. Let’s be clear – I am in no way an expert when it comes to food photography and still have countless things to learn, but I have received a number of emails asking about how I go about taking my pictures so I thought I would share that information with all of you.
So, how did I go from pictures like this (posted in March 2007, a month after launching the site):
To this (posted four months ago in July 2009)?
After the jump I will outline the tools and methods I use for taking my pictures, and how they go from food sitting on a table to the pictures you see on the site.
10 Nov
Fallen Chocolate Cakes
Posted by Michelle as Cakes | 21 Comments
Could there be anything better than a rich, decadent chocolate dessert that will please not only kids but also the most demanding dinner guests? Actually, there could be – if such a dessert could take less than 10 minutes to prepare and less than 10 minutes in the oven. And here it is! I give you the most fabulous fallen chocolate cakes (or chocolate lava cakes or molten chocolate cakes – they go by so many names) that I have yet to make. These cakes were recently featured as the Dessert of the Week on dinnervibe, which is a website and weekly newsletter that provides quick and easy recipes and accompanying grocery lists to make menu planning a cinch. When asked to contribute a dessert that adhered to the quick and easy model, I knew in an instant that these chocolate cakes would fit the bill.
