http://www.browneyedbaker.com Sweet. Savory. Sinful. Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:23:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en During the month of November I had two orders for birthday cakes: This first one was for a surprise 50th birthday party. The customer requested a zebra-style cake with a pink bow on top. The cake was chocolate with a peanut butter filling and chocolate buttercream icing. They were thrilled with ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/12/03/birthday-cakes/ My first official order for Buona Dolce was for a local home decor store - they were having a special preferred customers only Christmas party and I was asked to cater the desserts for the event. The following was the menu selected by the store owner: - Snowball cookies (7 dozen) - ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/12/03/my-first-cookie-order/ First an apology for my month-long hiatus here at Brown Eyed Baker - hopefully you're all still around and excited to read my updates :) Back at the beginning of November I officially launched my baking business: Buona Dolce is Italian for the phrase "Good Sweets". As many of you my who ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/12/03/im-in-business/ Otherwise known as The Great Pizza Tossing Debacle. Okay so it wasn't necessarily a debacle, I mean the pizza WAS edible, but things certainly didn't go as smoothly as I had planned. I made the pizza on a Tuesday night with the plan to let it rest overnight in the fridge ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/30/daring-bakers-pizza-and-my-video-debut/ I have had this crumb cake bookmarked for quite some time; as soon as I saw it sitting in my Google Reader it drew me in. I have developed a great preference for cakes, quick breads, and muffins/scones that use buttermilk - it definitely seems to bring out all of ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/28/buttermilk-chocolate-chip-crumb-cake/ Fall seems to have taken a permanent hold over the last few weeks and as a result, I've been craving a warm and hearty comfort meal full of flavor. What cures that craving better than a big bowl of chili that has slowly simmered for hours? Not much, right? I ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/20/chili-on-a-chilly-fall-day/ Honest to goodness, custard-drenched, authentic French toast. I told you I was going to make good use of that Challah I made! I eat French toast pretty often, but it's usually nothing close to the sweet sensation that I cooked up this morning. I typically keep it pretty light and healthy ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/18/french-toast/ Once again the wonderful Zorra has coordinated a celebration of the World Bread Day, asking bloggers from all over the globe to bake, buy, or photograph bread and blog about it today. World Bread Day is an event created by the UIB (International Union of Bakers and Bakers-Confectioners) in an ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/16/world-bread-day-challah/ Apple Pie: rustic, flaky, tart, and spicy. The most iconic of American traditions. These marvelous little pies package up the best parts of apple pie, eliminate a lot of the work, and deliver scrumptious, addictive fruit-wrapped-in-crust that can be stowed away in your pocket for safe keeping. Hand pies have been ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/15/apple-hand-pies/ Hey everyone, I have done a tiny bit of housekeeping here on Brown Eyed Baker and wanted to share some of the new features with you. Nothing earth shattering, but a few changes that I hope will improve your experience when you come to visit! :) If you check out my ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/13/housekeeping-some-new-features/ Behold, a gorgeous four-part cheesecake in all of its glory: Oreo crumb crust. Creamy cheesecake. Fudgy brownies. Chocolate ganache glaze. WOW. Now, many of you know I am a self-professed Queen of Cheesecake. No,  I'm not tooting my own horn about how fabulous my own cheesecakes always turn out, but cheesecake is by far my ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/11/brownie-mosaic-cheesecake/ I had cut this recipe out of a Cooking Light issue more than a year ago and stowed it away in my stash of "to make" recipes, never to be seen again. I have an entire folder of recipes ripped out of magazines that I want to try (not to ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/08/roasted-flank-steak-with-olive-oil-herb-rub/ First, an apology for being so tardy on this challenge. I have no good reason other than September simply ran away from me. Busy weekends, busy work, and this just got pushed to the back burner. But I am so happy that I stayed the course and still gave this ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/05/daring-bakers-late-lavash-crackers/ So just about everyone that reads my blog is pretty aware of my much-talked-about Italian heritage. Well, I also have a *smidgen* of Polish in me, and this meal pays homage to that blood. Homemade pierogi made it onto my Top 100 list, so when Annie asked if I would ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/03/homemade-pierogi/ Again,  I'm sorry, I'm such a bad hostess. I chose this recipe and then couldn't even get it in by the deadline of last Thursday. My deepest apologies to Ina and all of the Barefoot Bloggers. However, I am SO glad that I made the time to whip this up. ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/09/30/cream-of-mushroom-soup/ Perhaps the better question would be, who DOESN'T want some Martha love? Recently Martha did a show completely dedicated to blogging, which featured the well-known Smitten Kitchen and even Perez Hilton! Martha maintains her own blog, The Martha Blog, and is looking to network with other bloggers. Head on over ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/09/30/who-wants-some-martha-love/ I know, I'm horrible. I chose this week's recipe - Cream of Wild Mushroom soup, mmm. And it's not here. But due to some work craziness and getting ready to go away for the weekend and being tied up LAST weekend, I just haven't gotten to this yet. It's on ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/09/25/barefoot-bloggers-check-in-next-week/ The extent of my experience with chicken pot pie had only been a recipe that my grandmother shared with me a few years ago. It was really good. Really, really good. It also included about half a box of Bisquick. I kid you not. Now that fall has arrived, I ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/09/24/chicken-pot-pie/ I made these biscotti as part of the package I put together for Operation Baking GALS (sorry it's taken me a while to get this post up!), which also included plain vanilla biscotti and chocolate chip biscotti. These biscotti come courtesy of Dorie Greenspan and were actually the second-ever Daring ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/09/15/chocolate-biscotti/ This installment of Barefoot Bloggers was chosen by Heather of Randomosity and the Girl, and I could just give her a big hug for picking macaroni and cheese. I mean, really, who DOESN'T love macaroni and cheese?! And what are the odds that Ina Garten would create a mac n' ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/09/10/grown-up-mac-and-cheese/ I have seen posts about Operation Baking GALS for the last month or so, and finally emailed Susan at She's  Becoming DoughMessTic and wanted to find out how to get involved. As a bit of background, Operation Baking GALS has hosts that have a personal connection to a military personnel ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/09/05/operation-baking-gals-biscotti/ Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé. Classic éclairs. Chocolate pastry cream. Chocolate glaze. Hosted by Meeta of What's for Lunch Honey? and Tony of Tony Tahhan, I was pretty excited when this month's challenge was announced, as it wasn't a layer cake and didn't include a substantial amount of ground nuts. Score. I had made ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/08/31/daring-bakers-do-chocolate-eclairs/ Let me start off by saying that I rarely use recipes that come from Kraft Foods, mostly because it seems that almost all of them use the same bottled or prepackaged ingredients, and I really have come to respect and enjoy things that are truly homemade and from scratch. That ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/08/27/strawberry-pretzel-squares/ Buttery, flaky croissants. Wow. These are every bit as incredible as I hoped they would be. These were the Daring Bakers challenge in January 2007, which was about six months before I joined. I have been wanting to go back and attempt the challenges that I missed as well as ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/08/25/croissants/ I had the opportunity to entertain my grandparents this afternoon for the first time. I was excited to plan some great things to eat and everything turned out just wonderful. As a result, my next few posts will be pieces of that meal, and I figured what better place to ... http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/08/23/cheddar-ale-spread/