31 Dec
The Best of Brown Eyed Baker in 2009: The Top 20 Recipes
Posted by Michelle as Favorites | 16 Comments
If you have been a reader of Brown Eyed Baker for some time, you know that each year on or around New Year’s Eve I do a “year in review” and recap my favorite recipes of the year (feel free to check out the rundowns for 2007 and 2008. My how time flies!). This year I am giving you favorite recipes, but with an additional spin – first up are YOUR favorite recipes! I thought it would be great to share the recipes that you all flocked to over the course of the year, so thanks to Google Analytics, below are the Top 10 recipes that were made during 2009, based on site traffic. By the looks of the list, it was the year of the cookie!
29 Dec
Santa Was Here! Come see the kitchen goodies he left…
Posted by Michelle as Gift Ideas | 41 Comments
I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are continuing to enjoy the season. I do apologize for the blog being sparse over the last week or so, but Christmas gatherings, holiday orders and enjoyment of the holiday with loved ones kept me unplugged much of the time. But, I’m back and have some exciting things planned for the new year, so be sure to stay in the loop by subscribing through RSS or email (use the box in the right sidebar for email subscriptions). For now though, I wanted to share with you the wonderful kitchen items that I received for Christmas.
The Grand Daddy of Gifts
My Chief Culinary Consultant Santa brought me this sexy mama:
That’s right, a KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixer
Cookbooks
I received Gourmet Today
Food Photography Books
I also received two books dedicated to food photography: Digital Food Photography
More Kitchen Toys
A new baking stone! You may remember back in the summer when I made calzones that my beloved pizza stone cracked in half. I finally have a replacement for it and I can’t wait to make some homemade pizza and rustic breads on it. This is the stone that Cook’s Illustrated rated the highest in its review of baking stones.
A Williams Sonoma apron and oven mitt. I just adore aprons and can’t get enough of them. And I’ve been in dire need of a better oven mitt too!
A beautiful cake pedestal. I’ve been in need of more pedestals and I love the scalloped edging on this one.
Williams Sonoma Gift Cards
Because, really, you can never spend enough money in that store! Some things on my W-S wish list:
Kitchen Aid Pasta Press Attachment
What did Santa bring you? What was your favorite gift?
15 Dec
Top 19 Bestselling Cookbooks + 11 Bestselling Kitchen Items = 30 More Great Gift Ideas
Posted by Michelle as Gift Ideas | 24 Comments
We are now less than two weeks away from Christmas (how did that happen??), and many of you may still be looking for gift ideas. I, for one, still have a lot of shopping left to get done. Eek! In this third installment of gift-related ideas (remember, there were the homemade gift ideas and the foodie wish list), I thought I would review what has been popular with the general public in terms of cookbooks and kitchen-related items. Amazon compiles bestseller lists that are updated hourly and breaks down bestselling cookbooks and kitchen products into a boat load of sub-categories. I thought it would be fun to see what the most popular items were, and thought you all would enjoy it as well. They may also give you some much-needed gift ideas too!
Although we’re closing in on crunch time the good news is that you still have some time left to do last-minute online shopping. I have included the Amazon holiday shipping calendar below and as you can see, you still have until Thursday to take advantage of the free super saver shipping, and until Sunday to have gifts shipped via standard shipping and still get them by Christmas.
Now, let’s get on to the fun stuff – kitchen toys!
11 Dec
Congratulations to the Winner of the Kitchen Aid Mixer Giveaway!
Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 7 Comments
Nothing says Happy Holidays like a shiny, brand-spankin’ new Kitchen Aid mixer!
Congratulations to commenter #394, Angela of Spinach Tiger, who has reason to start celebrating the season. Get ready to start your baking motor, Angela! Her favorite holiday recipe:
“My favorite dessert for the Christmas Holidays is White Christmas Ice Cream Bombe. I make it every year and this year i did it with a homemade pomegranate sorbet. My link: http://bit.ly/8jBa2H”
What a gorgeous dessert! Congratulations again and Merry Christmas Angela!
A genuine thank you to all of you who took the time to dig up your favorite recipe and share it with everyone. I read every single entry and have saved countless recipes to try in the future. It was so much fun to learn about so many different types of traditions.
A great big thank you also goes out to Sam’s Club for sponsoring this sensational giveaway. Sam’s has a ton of great resources on their website for organizing all of the little details of the holiday, especially when it comes to food and entertaining. They have 10 different appetizers for under $10, a guide for helping you organize your holiday meal complete with wine pairings, and tons of suggestions for food-related gifts.
Many of you have expressed interest in homemade food gifts this year, and I thought you may find this video useful. Cookbook author Nicole Aloni provides readers with tips on getting the most out of your holiday baking and how to put together fantastic homemade gifts that your friends and family will be drooling over.
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10 Dec
Date Nut Spice Bread
Posted by Michelle as Quick Breads | 16 Comments
I had been dreaming about this bread since the moment I saw Ina Garten mix it up on one of her shows. Quick breads are always a favorite of mine, but combining cold-weather spices with dates, pecans and orange? That was more than a potential favorite; that was heaven. I quickly bookmarked the recipe and plotted for a time to make it. Well, busy minds tend to forget things like the most delicious-looking bread ever. It wasn’t until a few months later when I got Ina’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics
09 Dec
Nut Crescents
Posted by Michelle as Cookies | 20 Comments
Also known as Nut Horns. Also very, very similar to the ever-popular Snowballs a.k.a. Mexican Wedding Cookies a.k.a. Russian Tea Cookies. So many different names! These cookies are made of a buttery, shortbread style dough with ground nuts. After they are baked and cooled they are rolled in powdered sugar, giving the cookies a sugary-sweet kiss that will have all the kids running (be on the lookout for white fingerprints!). The original recipe calls for a mix of walnuts and almonds, but I decided to go with all walnuts; I love walnuts much more than almonds and I had a big bag of them thanks to a recent stock-up trip to Sam’s Club. This is a great cookie to include in Christmas tins or baskets, as they keep well at room temperature for about a week.
07 Dec
10 Gift Ideas for the Foodies in Your Life
Posted by Michelle as Gift Ideas | 21 Comments
Last week I talked about how you could use your kitchen prowess for gift giving and provided some homemade food gift ideas. This week I want to chat about gifts that foodies would love. Maybe your sister, your best friend, or your aunt love to spend time in the kitchen and you’re looking for a unique gift idea. Perhaps you want to send something to your favorite blogging friend. Or maybe, just maybe, you’re looking to amp up your own wish list. I’m usually guilty of the latter. No matter who you’re shopping for, you’ll be sure to find some gems in the following list among the kitchen gadgets, cookbooks, food and other random goodies. The list is a hybrid of things on my own wish list and things I have that I think others would enjoy as well. Happy Shopping!!
04 Dec
Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
Posted by Michelle as Cookies | 20 Comments
So, in order to understand why I felt the urge to whip up oatmeal raisin cookies in the midst of holiday baking season, you’ll need to know a little more about me. You already know that I love food and love to bake. And for the most part, I’m a girl’s girl. But… There’s a bit of tomboy lurking beneath the surface that comes out from time to time. Maybe you caught wind of my love for hockey and football when I made the Pittsburgh Penguins cookies earlier in the year for the Stanley Cup Finals or when I made the Pittsburgh Steelers cookies for the start of football season this fall. But wait, there’s more… Not only am I a crazy hockey and football fan (and currently waaaay too into my fantasy football team – it’s my first year playing), but I can’t get enough of the NHL09 game on PlayStation. My Chief Culinary Consultant and I can play for hours on end. I’m not even all that good, but winning every 4 or 5 games keeps me pretty well addicted.
So, where do the oatmeal raisin cookies come in? Well, over Thanksgiving weekend we were watching a Pens game and the announcers were talking about Matt Cooke, a scrappy 3rd liner (apologies for the hockey talk), who is affectionately nicknamed “Cookie”. They told a story about being on a recent road trip and at breakfast in the team hotel, Matt Cooke requested a cookie, saying that he eats a cookie everyday. And the cookie he requested? Oatmeal Raisin. First of all, it made me hungry for them as soon as I heard, and secondly, it was too fun a story and I felt like I HAD to make them.
03 Dec
Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer Giveaway!
Posted by Michelle as Giveaways | 556 Comments
If you feel the need to pinch yourself, go ahead, I’ll wait… I assure you, you’re not dreaming. I am so excited to be giving away the Kitchen Aid mixer
Now, because this giveaway is a bit of a biggie and because this is my favorite time of year, I want to celebrate all of the great food that so many people make during the holidays. So, here is how you can enter to win this awesome mixer:
If you DO have a blog: Between now and midnight next Thursday, blog about your favorite holiday recipe. Is it your Grandma’s famous cookie recipe, peanut brittle that everyone fights over, perfect scalloped potatoes, the best mug of hot cocoa? Whatever it is, I want you to share it! Once you blog about it, come back here and leave a link to the post so that everyone else can check out your recipe too. The idea here is to share all of the wonderful recipes that are unearthed during the holiday season.
If you DON’T have a blog: Don’t worry, you didn’t think I’d leave you out, did you? If you don’t have a blog, leave a comment on this entry telling us what your favorite holiday recipe is and either include a link to the recipe if it is somewhere online or include the actual recipe with your comment.
Deadline: Thursday, December 10, 2009 11:59pm EST. The winner will be selected at random using Random.org.
Restrictions: Due to shipping restrictions, this giveaway is only open for those residing within the continental United States. My deepest apologies to my international readers!
For an Extra Entry: Tweet about this giveaway, and then come back and leave a link to your Tweet for a possible second entry.
Good Luck!
Disclaimer: Giveaway sponsored by Sam’s Club
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02 Dec
Homemade Food Gift Ideas
Posted by Michelle as Gift Ideas | 34 Comments
Don’t look now, but it’s December. How did it creep up on us so fast? I feel like this past year was a blur, it went by so quickly! Even if you’re still in shock that the holidays are actually upon us, the next few weeks won’t slow down for you. It’s time to start thinking about holiday parties, that ever-growing baking list you have, and of course, gifts. Figuring out what to buy people can certainly be vexing, and given the current economy it may be a lean year for a number of people. I’m of the opinion that you don’t need to spend tons of money to let people know you care, love them, and want to remember them at the holidays.
I have put together a list of homemade, food-related gift ideas that are inexpensive to make, fun to create, and a joy to receive.
