Baking for a living!

I decided to face my fears and put myself and my baking out there! I mentioned that I'm interested in taking orders for cheesecakes and for fondant cakes. Within an hour, I had 3 new clients lined up for cakes. I won't forget these first few people who are buying my goods.

Stress at my current job thrust me into this new realm. I realize that I should be doing something I love and I don't want to regret not taking this risk, even if it's a small risk.


It's really quite relieving-- to be doing something I love and to know that people want my goods. Pictures will come soon! In fact, that's one of the many reasons I'm branching out to serve people with my desserts--I need a portfolio. I consider one day applying at a major wedding bakery and realize that if I don't have the work to back it up I won't really be taken seriously.

It starts bringing out questions like "where do I get my boxes and cardboard rounds?" "do I need a business plan?" It's times like this where I need someone to grow up near to train me on these types of things. I guess it's all a learning process I'll have to figure out. It'll make me stronger, eh?!

What do I have that other bakers do not? It's THAT distinction that will be my springboard and help me become great at what I love to do.

Onward and upward!

Cheesecake Website!

I had some extra time at work, so I made myself a cheesecake website! It's sugarhush.webs.com

At least it's a start, right?!

Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce, Jalapeño Wrappers

I'm a huge fan of the 'burn your mouth and then sugar coat it' feeling when I eat sauces and Asian inspired meals. I was super surprised a year or so ago when I found homemade sauce recipes that could be made with simple ingredients I already had laying around the house and that gave me that wonderful sweet burning feeling dancing around my tastebuds.

For a game night, I made some jalapeño wrappers-- candied jalapenos chopped and mixed with cream cheese inside phyllo dough and baked. DELICIOUS. I had to have a sweet spicy dipping sauce!

Baked Jalapeño Wrappers

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 pkg phyllo dough (found in the freezer section) or wonton wrappers

8oz jar/can of jalapeños chopped small (candied if you can find them)

2 pkg cream cheese

1 garlic clove chopped small (or a couple of tbsp minced garlic)

onion powder

You'll also need olive oil (or any oil) mixed with some pepper, garlic powder, or onion powder to brush on the tops of the finished wrappers before you bake them to give them a nice golden crispy tasty color.

(recipe as listed will make about 20-30 jalapeño wrappers. If you like spicy, add more jalapenos if not, take some away)

-Thaw phyllo dough per directions on package. Have a moist towel handy to cover the dough when you aren't using it, or it will dry out (no good!)

-mix up the rest of the ingredients until smooth

-preheat oven to 350

-take a few layers of the phyllo dough and cut them into squares--about 4 by 4 inches or 5 by 5 inches.

-put a large spoonful of the filling into the center of the dough and wrap it up, folding it together.

Fold the sides together

Wrap it up

I kinda mushed the folded sides together on top.

Lightly brush the top with a mix of oil and pepper/garlic.

Wrappers waiting to be baked!

Waiting....waiting....

Bake at 350 for about 10-20 minutes, depending on the crispiness you want them. I'd recommend about 15 for a nice crisp.

Baked!

Don't under cook them or the phyllo dough won't be set up--it will be doughy still and the bottoms will be soggy. Make sure you bake them for a decent amount of time. If you need, check them after about 10 minutes to see if the bottoms are crispy and hard. That's the best way to check for doneness.

These things were a HIT! If you'd like, experiment by taking away the jalapeños and adding artichoke and spinach to make artichoke spinach wrappers. How yummy!!!

Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce

2/3 Cup water

2/3 Cup sugar

1/2 Cup white rice vinegar

4 heaping tbsp chili garlic paste

2 tbsp cornstarch

onion powder (to taste)

garlic powder (to taste)

Mix all ingredients together.

Bring to a boil.

Turn on low heat for about 5 minutes.

Done!

It's kind of a pain to assemble and bake, but these jalapeno wrappers and the delicious dipping sauce are well worth it! If I had to change anything, I would have made more!! Some recipes call for deep frying these things. I'm sure you could, but baking is a tad more healthy and it worked for me--as I don't have a deep fryer and didn't want to waste all that oil in a stock pot.

Enjoy, enjoy!! These are GREAT!

Calm in the storm

Good Day!

I must say that it's been such a nice winter here in Colorado. The weather has been very warm and we've only received one large snow storm that lasted only a week. I'm very thankful for the nice weather! It lifts everyone's spirits.

I have been coming out of my shell a bit lately and in doing so am receiving a bit of criticism from people I know. At one point or another, we all have received flack for deviating from the usual self everyone is used to seeing. I've learned, however, that some things don't matter and some things do. I've learned that some issues are too small to worry about when considering the large picture. I hope you find a calm in your own heart when you get too stressed.

No baking for me today. I'm taking a small break and just going to relax today with the pups and my wonderful husband. Perhaps this weekend has some cake or cookies calling!

Have a peaceful day, friend.

Delicious White Velvet Cake

I enjoy checking out cupcake blogs and on one there was a link for White Velvet CupCakes. I checked it out and tried the recipe today. As I type this, white velvet cake is baking in the oven. I usually can't stand the flavor of homemade white cakes because they taste like cornbread. Not this one!

This recipe is beyond simple. It tastes so great. I highly recommend using organic/raw sugar. I don't know if it scientifically changes the flavor of the cake, but I swear by it. I try not to buy white sugar anymore.

Recipe from Fifteen Spatulas blog

White Velvet Cake

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 stick butter

about 3 tsp baking powder

3egg whites

2/3 cups milk

vanilla and almond extract

mix the first set of ingredients in a mixer.

whisk the second set.

add them both together.

bake at 350 for a little over 20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

YUM!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Garlic Parmesan Breadsticks

Garlic.

Oh how I love garlic.

I had a couple of friends over for dinner and I made spaghetti and homemade breadsticks. Boy howdy--these suckers were delicious! They are soft and airy with a perfect blend of buttery garlic sauce and a hint of parmesan cheese. Give them a try. Worth the rising time!

Garlic Parmesan Breadsticks

(tweaked from allrecipes.com)

2 (1/4oz) pkg yeast

1/2Cup sugar (take out 1tbsp to put in yeast mix, rest goes in flour)

2Cups warm water

3 tbsp veggie oil

1 egg

1tsp salt

4 1/2 Cups flour

Butter sauce:

1/2 Cup butter melted

2 tbsp parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp garlic powder

2 garlic cloves chopped small (more or less upon preference)

-Mix the yeast, 1tbsp sugar, and 2 cups of water in a bowl. let bubble for a minute while you assemble the next.

-Mix oil, egg, salt, and flour in another bowl.

-Add the first two bowls together, stirring. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and springy. Do not over knead and do not add a lot of flour to it--that is what makes bread tough.

-Put in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled about an hour or so in a warm place

-Turn out onto lightly floured table and break off pieces big enough to roll into breadsticks. Make them as thick or thin as you like-- but if you make them about an inch in diameter, baking time will be about 10 minutes as opposed to thicker or thinner sticks.

(I bake them on my baking stone which doesn't require grease. I'd recommend a glass pan greased or perhaps aluminum with parchment paper on it)

-Arrange them nicely on your baking pan.

-Assemble the butter sauce. brush lightly (or generously!) on your breadsticks. I used a spatula since I don't have one of those fancy kitchen brushes.

-Bake at 375! This recipe can make over 30 breadsticks. If you want, add garlic to the mix during the initial steps.

Love the freshly chopped garlic! It makes things taste so much better.

I used half the dough for breadsticks and I used the other half in a greased loaf pan. When I tapped it and it made a hollow noise, it was done.

Oh please, try this recipe. It's divine!

Have a great day!

Juicing! Recipes and flying monkey apples

I am the Willy Wonka of the juicing world. If I see a giant blueberry girl, I'll simply reply to her predicament "I want you to roll Miss Beaurgarde into the boat and take her along to the Juicing Room at once. 'Kay?" I will squeeze and press the juice out of a piece of paper just because I can--- I love my new Jack Lalanne juicer!

I've been toying with the idea of buying a juicer for the past year or so but never got around to buying one or looking up recipes for it. After work two days ago, I told myself that I should get one. I did.

I took it home and stared at the box for two hours before deciding it was time to bust it out and give it a whirl. There were about 8 parts in the box and it took me all of 13.3 minutes to assemble. I made it more confusing than it actually was. I didn't think I would ever get it assembled. Thank the Lord for directions with pictures...without them I would still be staring at the pulp catcher and the circular filter asking myself "where does the fruit go?"

After getting it all in order, I flipped the switch just to hear a glorious low whirring noise. I jumped in glee and said "ooooohhh!"

I turned the juicer (lovingly known as Shredder) off and gathered my fruits. I grabbed three granny smith apples and cored them. I then took my pears and dug out the seeds as well. Finally, I poured the thawed peaches and the other two fruits in a big bowl and reverently walked towards Shredder. Now was the moment of truth.

Would I like freshly juiced fruits? Would it taste sour or bland? Am I going to miraculously feel rejuvenated and fresh? Only one way to find out-- to KILL the innocent fruits by squishing them to death in my new machine.

On goes the machine and I drop the fruit bit by bit down the chute and followed it with the shmooshing tube. It whirred harder and sure enough, fruit juice came streaming out of the hole into my juice catching cup. It was a blurry khaki color and started to foam in my cup. Giddy to try more, I put more fruit down the chute but forgot to follow it with the shmooshing tube. The apple pieces came FLYING out towards me like the crazy monkeys from the Wizard of Oz...

I screamed out and jumped back. After the mad monkey apple pieces stopped attacking me, I approached the machine with a new found respect for the shmooshing tube.

I put the rest of the fruit down the chute and after I was done, was left with a full measuring cup of fresh juice--the blood of fruits of life past.

I disassembled the juicer with less trouble than what I had assembling it. I cleaned it sparkling and grabbed the juice and poured it in a tall glass cup.

It was like liquid gold--shimmery yellow and beige in color and foamy up top. I stirred the foam into the juice and braced myself as I lifted the glass to my lips.

Steady...

Steaadddyy.....

*gulp*

AMAZING!

This juice was beyond amazing. It was smooth and delightfully sweet. It tasted like apple juice gone wild. The tartness of the granny apples was offset by the calm smooth taste of pear and the hint of sweetness from the peach.

Oh man. I had struck gold. Liquid gold!

I highly recommend you try fresh juice--from a juicer. It tastes so much better than even that "Fresh juice" the store sells. No preservatives or crappy additives-- just wholesome juice.

Today, I tried a new recipe. Amazing. I've used this juicer 3 times in the past 2 days and I love it. I hear it's a great way to detoxify, lose weight, reallign your health and digestive system. Im stoked to try more recipes--especially a homemade V8 recipe. I usually can't drink V8 due to the high salt content (I'm not a horse, for crying out loud, I don't need a salt lick with every glass of juice...)

Here are a couple of recipes I've created and jotted down. Be sure you use firm fruits. Don't juice bananas....

Smooth Apple Blend

3 granny smith apples (cored)

2 pears (cored if seeded)

2 peaches (I used two handfuls of frozen sliced peaches)

Place all in the juicer.

ENJOY!

Apple Fruity Blend

3 granny smith apples (cored)

2 pears (cored if seeded)

1 cup blueberries

6 strawberries (tops cut off)

1 large carrot (top cut off)

Juice an apple and pear, add blueberries and strawberries, then add the rest of the apples, pears, and carrot. Enjoy.

As you see, I stick with fruit juices-- I'm a tad scared to add a whole bag of spinach to my juicing regime...but... I'll get there.

ENJOY. Don't be scared! Give juicing a try!