Congratulations Laura and John!!

I grew up in a very small town called Belchertown. A great name for a relatively inconspicuous little place, Belchertown was named for a political family in Massachusetts. It was originally called "Cold Spring." In addition  to its unusual name, Belchertown is pretty neat. When I was growing up we graduated high school with the same kids we went to preschool with. We all knew probably more about each other than we wanted to and we bounced around who we were friends with by the year. It was in this sleepy little town in the Pioneer Valley that I made some very close friends. Yesterday, one of my closest friends became the first of us to have a little munchkin! This post and baking is for Laura, John, and their new little girl Amelia Noel...Congratulations!!

Dear new little girly,

I am so happy to hear that you have finally arrived! Since we heard about you we have been talking about what  kind of fruit you resemble- I am so glad that you now resemble a little bitty person instead. You should know that your parents are amazing people. I have known your mommy for a very long time and have always been impressed with how incredibly caring and able she is. If you ever need anything- even a way to get to the moon- I am sure that she will find a way to get you there. I can't wait to meet you in person! Even more, I can't wait to see what you are like when you are an old lady like your mom. You should know a few things about this woman you have been spending so much time with for the last 9 months...For instance, she once saran wrapped someone's car in the middle of the night. She is not afraid to be seen in public wearing a chicken hat. She also is not afraid to be seen (or not seen) helping anyone who needs it and she doesn't shy away from a challenge (that means she's ready for whatever you have to offer). And, if she is anything like she was in college, she doesn't need to sleep a lot so don't worry about keeping her up- she's ready for it! Welcome to the world!!

                                           Love, Sarah

         

           

Amelia Noel's pink cherry walnut muffins...

 

Happy Birthday Mike!!!

Mike's Red Velvet Birthday Cake 

(scroll to bottom for recipe and substitutions)

Happy Birthday to my first big brother! Mike has been around since I was...12?? He could probably tell a lot of embarrassing stories about me from those fabulous awkward years (which I now get to witness in my students daily and I finally understand how weird I truly was in school).

Mike and I share a few interests:

1) The Harry Potter book and movie series- I distinctly remember him waiting for hours in line before the first movie came out and watching him knock over children and old women alike to get the best seats- for me of course because it was my 14th birthday.

2) History- We are both history teachers and I've called and pestered him for his sage advice a number of times. I also use many of his materials in my classroom- he'll always be at least 5 years more knowledgeable than I will be.

3) Life. Mike is an old man at heart and is already at the stage of development where he likes to give advice to younger generations. I've secretly always liked this. It's nice to hear from someone who was adopted (and when I say adopted I mean that figuratively, my sister did NOT marry our adoptive brother) into our family from the outside but has been around long enough to really see how things work.

4) Cake...Mike likes cake. Mike specifically likes this red velvet cake- at least I think he does. He always says he does. Mike if you've been lying to me for years, I'm sorry!!!

Here is Mike's red velvet birthday cake with cream cheese frosting....it also happens to be 100% gluten and dairy free (except for the cream cheese frosting). SURPRISE to all of the people who just unknowingly ate it!!

Happy 32nd Birthday!!!

Blood Red- nothing like 2 bottles of food coloring to make you hungry!!

Frosting. Pre-decorations

I would like to point out that there are no in-between shots of the plain baked cake. That is because my wonderful boyfriend thought it would be a great idea to take a bite right out of the side of the cake.....I was too mad at him to document...Sorry Mike!!

This looks like cat food BUT it's not! This is the tiny cake that I made for my niece who cannot have the cream cheese frosting.

 

This isn't a great picture, but I really love it. 

Happy Birthday to the big brother I never even asked for!

To Make This Cake:

Paula Deen's Red Velvet Cake Recipe- HERE

Substitutions:
- Cake flour with Cup4Cup all purpose flour from William Sonoma.
- Butter with Margarine...my favorite are Vegan Sticks Buttery Spread
- Butter Milk with soy milk that has a couple drops of lemon juice in it. I put about 1/2 tsp for 1 cup...the lemon causes the milk to curdle- even soy milk! It's actually kind of neat!

"Learn How to Make Puff Pastry:

After three batches of puff pastry I am happy to say that my New Years Resolution for this year should probably change to "Learn How to Make Puff Pastry." Gallet des rois is on hold until next January! Next January get excited for the most bangin' gallet des rois this side of 495!!!! 

For now we can all just be very excited that it finally puffed! Not evenly, probably not as much as it could have as I could probably have left it in the oven much longer, and now I don't know exactly what to do with it aside from bring it to a girls night tomorrow completely naked! BUT IT PUFFED! I dedicate this puff pastry to the end of my Christmas break from school...soon there will be fewer posts...and my food may become ugly...early warning...

Also, get excited- you're about to see me flip out with excitement because IT PUFFED!!!

Batch #2- Cold butter, bad news, I put it in the oven anyways and unabashedly ate it coated in cinnamon and sugar...AND we didn't go to the gym...HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

I did this to make myself feel better about batch #2...that orchid in the back is dead...

Batch #3!!!! Look how smooth!!! I think this is my best "rolling" experience ever...I don't like rolling and have many times just taken pie dough and pressed it into the pan to avoid having to roll it...You've done it too...

Right from the oven! It puffed!!! 

A close up of the beautiful puffiness! 

 The inside!! Look at the layers!!!! Fold, fold, fold! Again, could probably have puffed more- see that thicker layer in the middle?

Look how crispy! 

I suggest that everyone at some point in their lives make an attempt at making their own! It is so exciting when it works!!

It WORKED!! Kind of...

When I started out on this great puff pastry making adventure (and trust me it is an adventure) I did not expect it work out. I've tried in the past to make gluten free croissants and had a melt-down after hours of rolling and folding baked into one big epic fail. So I started out this project not expecting much and following the advice posted here... after the first roll I was DANCING I was so excited! Cup4Cup flour is actually really good and works great!

However, after all of the rolling and folding and rolling and folding- which is actually kind of therapeutic and nice- my puff pastry didn't really puff! It looks more like this...

It's flat...very flat...

It's not hard at all- it's a little crispy, it tastes really nice especially with blueberry pie filling or lemon curd on it...but it's flat. 

I brought some down to Gram as usual (I wonder when she will be sick of eating my experiments). She did some looking around and we concluded that the problem was that I had used margarine instead of butter. I often do this with baking because in addition to a wheat allergy in my family we also have a number of people who are allergic to milk. Usually it's fine. Apparently not. Lesson to everyone do NOT put margarine in puff pastry. It has too high a water content and will not produce the right amount of steam to make your puff, PUFF. Also, You need to be really careful with your egg wash, if it gets on the edges of the puff it will seal them and keep the steam from being released. This again will make it so that your puff cannot PUFF! Finally, the oven may have been too hot. My oven is part oven and part heater so the heater may have applied a bit too much extra heat in this case making everything brown much too quickly.

It still tasted ok and was better than any gluten free pie crust I have ever had so I used it on chicken pot pie today and was very pleased with the results.

I made an extra thick version of my grandmother's chicken slop, slopped it into some nice little ramekins, and then covered it with a sheet of my pastry dough rolled out thinly. The result was kind of like a nice soft and flaky pie crust. 

Turkey Pot Pie

Lemon Turn Over

Lemon Turn Over

I'll try again later with butter this time...first I need to clean the kitchen...

New Year, New Flour

There is nothing like New Years day. Scores of people are rushing to make and keep resolutions- new exercise programs, juice fasts, budgeting, and bettering themselves. Facebook is loaded with wishes, thank you's, and engagement photos. Everyone is ready to start fresh. I'm just like everyone else. I make resolutions and rarely keep them- I'll journal more, juice more vegetables, watch less TV and so on. But really when it comes down to it I hate to journal, I don't like cleaning the juicer, and Modern Family is on for hours every night...Instead, I think I'll do the same things just with more vigor.

In preparation for the French La Fête des Roisis (Three Kings Day)- a small holiday that celebrates the three kings who brought gifts to Jesus after his birth- I am working on some puff pastry so that I can make a galette des rois (king's cake).  Now I am not very French, nor am I very religious, but I can't help but love la galette des rois. This is a cake made of a puff pastry shell and filled with sweet almond paste. Being a person who needs to eat gluten free I am very nervous about this puff pastry thing- I found a great recipe here, and bought this new flour. We'll see.....

Maybe my New Years resolution should include something about patience and using nicer words when I mess things up in the kitchen....