Ode to Chocolate Brioche

As I mentioned earlier this morning, I was in the process of making Chocolate Brioche. A favorite. My family got lucky this morning, and I can honestly say they were delicious. For the most part when I bake something I am hard on myself and always thinking about how to better the project next time. Flavor wise I think the Chocolate Brioche was right on! Could've been in better form but next time...

The quiche turned out WAY better than the last. I used cream instead of milk so the filling wasnt runny. Last time I also forgot to prebake the pie crust resulting in sogginess. This time the crust was a little on the thick side and more sundried tomatoes would enhance the flavor. But overrall my night/morning was productive and successful. Great way to wrap up 2007!

If you give a mouse a cookbook...

Watch out. Here in California it is exactly 4:47am. What started out as making Brioche for tomorrow (today) ended with a fresh broccili, sun dried tomato, cheddar quiche. My sleeping family probabaly thinks I am on drugs. Wrong. Two days ago I went to Barnes and Noble and purchased the Joy of Cooking. LOVE it! Every single person in the world should own a copy. I borrowed my grandma's old edition and decided that I needed a late Christmas present. Such a jewel it is. So I made brioche dough, which will hopefully turn into Brioche Aux Chocolate in a few hours. And as I was skimming through my cookbook I realized I had all I needed to make a quiche. Why not? My mom will love me. Happy New Year!!

**I've also included a picture of the craziness that was my Christmas baking. Gingerbread men, Sugar cookies, Pecan Sandies, Vanilla Cupcakes (w/the leftover chocolate buttercream from my Yule Log), Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Red Velvet Cupcakes. That was a long, long, weekend. But worth all the sweetness.

Merry Christmas!

Im tired from the past 24hours of baking. On top of the Christmas cookies I saved for the last minute, I alsoo participated in this month's Daring Baker's challenge. The challenge was a Yule log, and it completely slipped my mind. I have been so busy with work and holiday shopping that I wasn't focused on the challenge. To be honest, yesterday I was contemplating skipping the challenge this month. But it's only my second month as a DB and I would have felt bad. And so here it is. Appearance wise I was content, but the genoise cake was not my finest. I think I left it in the oven too long. Instead of doing a coffee buttercream, I did chocolate, it was delicious. I used the leftovers to frost some cupcakes for tomorrow. Sorry this post is so short, I promise to come back with links and more info...but I have to get to sleep so Santa doesn't skip my house!!! Happy Holidays!!

Just a heads up, my challenge is in the fridge right now. Technically I will be breaking the DBers law because my post will be up on the 24th. It is baked but needs the finishing touches.

Zanahoria.

As a kid when we get new toys all we want to do is play play play. Yesterday I got some new toys and so I play. I used my new 6 inch cake pan and pastry bag to make a carrot cake. The recipe I used was from the joy of baking. What can I say, I am such a sucker for cream cheese frosting. The cake turned out well. I took my time, and did things right. I was patient while frosting and it paid off. The actual taste of the cake wasn't bad. It was a little on the dry side, but had a nice flavor. So much more baking yet to come this month, get excited.

Four Scores and Seven Years Later.

I haven't posted in awhile, or baked. Ha. I appear to be a manic baker. Going on binge highs baking up a storm; followed by a couple weeks of a dormant period where my Kitchenaid gets rusty. kidding.
I've been working, and well that's pretty much it.
But today is going to be a good day. I am going on my first ever trip to a little place I call Heaven. Sur La Table. The website itself makes me so happy. I realize it is going to be pricey...buuuut that's why I'm dragging my mom along. Christmas is almost here and it's time for me to get manic!!