I finally made it!!

This update is not about a new recipe. This entry is much more exciting in my opinion. After a couple of failed attempts, I finally made the trip to Hoboken and to Carlo's Bakery!!! To say I was excited about this trip would be an understatement. I guess you could say I made it to the "Motherland" of this blog. Being there firsthand was an amazing experience that I won't forget.

A friend told me a couple of months ago that if you order a cake ahead of time you can cut the line and go right into the bakery. Since it was my nephew's 1st birthday party this past weekend, and my Dad's birthday today, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity for this trip. I ordered 2 cakes of Devil's Food with fudge filling and buttercream frosting a few weeks ago and prepared for the "journey." To be honest, it wasn't much of a "journey" to get there... it only took me an 75 minutes from school and only about an hour to get back home.

The line was starting to go around the block when I got there, but as promised I cut the line and went right in to the store. IT WAS PACKED! There was barely room to move in there, but it was worth every second. I gave them my name, and the found the cakes. Once I was in there it was fairly easy to order other things as well. I got some cannolis, lobster tails, eclairs, crumb cake and chocolate covered strawberries for my family to try. I would say that everything was reasonably priced and everyone working there was extremely friendly!

Sightings: Danny, Mauro, Little Buddy, and Madeline. Madeline actually checked me out, and I got the chance to tell her about this little blog and thank her and her family. Everyone was so nice and it was great to see them still functioning the same way as before, despite the fame.

Review of the food: AMAZING!!! There is nothing else to say. The cake was to die for, as were the other desserts. I would happily make the trip again for any of their cakes. They really deserve all the success they've gotten.

Such a great time. I think that this trip was a step in the whole journey of this blog. I'm really starting to get into the tougher recipes soon, so hopefully I can use Buddy's model as inspiration!

Also Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope everyone gets the love that they deserve :)

xoxo
Catherine

Who doesn't love cupcakes?

Surprise! I decided to do another recipe (actually 2) this week. To get the full story I have to back up to last Thursday. I was going down to D.C. this past weekend to celebrate my birthday (which was yesterday). Two of the most amazing friends in the world were taking care of all the plans and I kept feeling badly that they weren't letting me help, so they finally conceded to let me bake cupcakes for the weekend just to get me off their backs. Wow- was it worth making these two recipes!

I want to take a second to thank everyone who helped me celebrate my birthday this year. It was easily one of my favorite birthdays in history. You are all amazing and so special to me!

So once I was granted permission to bake, I chose to do simple vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting. I was also taught the difference this past week between icing and frosting, and for my birthday I wanted frosting. Frosting is creamier and softer than icing. Both were recipes from Buddy's book, and if you have been keeping up with this blog then you know that I haven't made either of these before. For all I knew, they could have stunk, but it was something new, fun, and who doesn't love a vanilla cupcake?

After a last second run to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients I had run out of, I began what was to be my favorite recipe so far of this blog. Both the cake and the frosting were pretty easy to make. I don't know if I could have done it as well without my KitchenAid, but luckily I didn't have to worry about that this time. The frosting was rich and creamy, and the cake was like something you would find in a professional bakery. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but they were AWESOME! I've been told so much in the past how hard it is to make a good cake from scratch, but this recipe was pretty easy to follow, and turned out way better than anything you could ever get from a box.

I don't always try things from the blog, but I finally gave in after everyone starting raving about the cupcakes and tried one Saturday night. I was shocked about how amazing they tasted. I didn't have grading sheets with me for the weekend, but whenever I asked someone who tried them the only answer I heard was an A! Some of the comments were:

"They are like a religious experience!"
"Wow!!!"- Henry
"This is better than something I could get at a bakery."
"Can I have another?!?!"

I plan on making these cupcakes many more times in the future, beginning next week with my nephew's 1st birthday party. I'd be happy to make these for anyone else who wants them too!

Thanks to everyone for making 21 a great year for me, hopefully 22 will be even better!!!

Keep reading, commenting, sending to friends, etc. I love you all :)

-Catherine

A scone-like thing?

So after having an overwhelming couple of weeks, I finally found time to bake! On a side note I had an event for a club last weekend and used a few of the past recipes that I've tried for the blog and they were once again a huge success. I love being able to incorporate these new findings in my regular baking repertoire. This project has turned out to be much more than just a procrastination tool from work. It's become sort of a way of life for me.

As promised in my last entry, I made tea biscuits, which according to Buddy are "sconelike pastries." According to the book, they were the first mixing that Buddy ever did at Carlo's. The tricky part about this recipe is that you stop the mixer before the dough looks thoroughly mixed together. Buddy describes it as "until all of the ingredients just barely hold together... the dough will look unfinished and flaky." I feel like this is a recipe that is best taught by watching someone else do it, so you know exactly what it should look like, aka how flaky is just flaky enough. Of course, I am just going off a book without pictures, so had to use my best judgment. I think that I stopped it at the right point, because the dough wasn't rubbery, but for all I know I could have stopped it even earlier! Who knows, maybe I'm developing a real bakers instinct?

My biggest complaint with this recipe is that it only yielded 12 biscuits. Usually I get at least 24 out a recipe, which allows for my testing group to be larger. The recipe still was pretty simple to make, even though I found the dough a bit difficult due to it's flaky nature. The recipe also called for a pastry icing on top, which the biscuit really could have done without. A few of my tasters commented that the icing was too sweet and a bit unnecessary. With the exception of a couple of tasters, no one knew what to expect from a tea biscuit. Most of the grading was from individuals who had nothing to compare this tea biscuit experience with.

The average grade for these tea biscuits was a B.

Some of the comments were:
"Love it!"
"Perfect! I need tea now."
"Really good, but a bit too dry for my taste."

I don't think this recipe is going to go on my list of future repeats, but it's always nice to try something new!

Keep reading, commenting, etc.

xoxo!

Do me a favor... please

Hey all,

So I've decided that I am going to make Tea Biscuits this week, but I won't have time until Wednesday night. In the meantime I thought I would ask a favor out of all of you... thanks to technology I've been able to keep track of my page views and audience. The numbers are WAY higher then I would have ever been able to hope, so for that I want to thank you! All of you have made this blog what it is or is becoming so as a result I want to hear from you. I want to know who my readers are (in some sense.)

In the comment section to this entry please tell me a little something. It could be where your from, what you like about this blog, what you don't like, something you want to see, or anything about you. I know that as a blogger I really shouldn't be asking favors from my readers, but curiosity has gotten the best of me.

Keep posted for the next recipe last this week, and thanks for doing me this little favor :) Oh and please don't feel pressured to put your name, anonymity is totally respected.

Catherine

Back to the grind

Hey readers! Sorry for not blogging regularly over the past month. Being on my last winter break threw off my schedule, but I am now back into the swing of things and that includes baking! I mentioned briefly before that I was going to visit Carlo's bakery, but like most of my plans this break the snow prohibited me from going. I am however going THIS Friday to pick up a birthday cake that I ordered for my nephew who is turning 1 this week!

As promised I attempted to make the Italian Custard Cream again over break, and guess what? It didn't work. 4 times is not the charm. I looked and compared Buddy's recipe with a bunch of others, and I am convinced that there is an ingredient missing from my book. Maybe I'll get a chance to ask Buddy or someone on Friday, if not a very confused e-mail to them will just have to do. The main reason that I am more than determined to figure out the custard cream is because a bunch of the recipes for this blog call for it as a component, and I can't let the blog down! I made a promise to bake all the recipes, and I very well intend to keep that promise to the best of my ability.

So as I mentioned before I finally got a chance to try a new recipe for the first time in quite some time (major apologies to any loyal readers I might have.) I chose to make Pecan Wedges for the beginning of this new semester. Once again, I've never made anything like these before, but it was a fun experience for me to try. It wasn't Buddy's easiest recipe, and I'm not sold that they turned out the way they were supposed to, but I made something! The directions Buddy gave were easy to follow, but the measurements for the dough didn't make sense with what my product was. Like any great baker, I improvised to make the recipe work for me (instead of me working for it.) I think my favorite part was making the pecan filling, which involved me making caramel. Pretty cool. My biggest complaint is when I was cutting up the pieces they kept on falling apart. It was only after they had been in the fridge for a little while did they maintain their shape and taste.

Overall my taste-testers of the week seemed to enjoy them. The average grade received was around an A-. Some of the comments were:
"Good, except the breaded part tasted a little dry, but pecans were just the right type of crunchy."
"Moist and delicious!"
"Yum! This is like a better pecan pie- all the flavor, but not overly sweet!"

'Nommmm."

After not baking for some time I was a little nervous to get back into the swing of things, but once I dived in it felt great! Besides for the messiness and the fact that I don't love nuts, this was a fun recipe to make. I'm not sure I'll add it my repertoire of baking for the future, but I accomplished something new and that's always good to be proud of.

Keep posted to the blog for a full update of my trip to Carlo's Bake Shop and more recipes to come in the near future! Also don't forget to comment and tell your friends.

xoxo

Update

I hate Italian Custard Cream. Attempt 4 was still a failure. On the bright side I'm going to Carlo's Bakery on Friday. Maybe I can ask them for some tips on what I am doing wrong? Oh, and Happy New Year everyone. Hope 2011 is awesome!

Stay tuned for more recipes coming in 2011, an entry on my trip to the bakery, and maybe sometime in 2011 I will finally get the Italian Custard Cream.

A Basic Vanilla Cookie?

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay of a new post. I just got back from Washington D.C. where I brought my newest baked goods for the blog to be tested out. Before I go into this week's baked deliciousness, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and New Year! This is one my favorite time of year, with everyone in good spirits and so much promise of the future. Unfortunately, there probably won't be another blog update until after the New Year, because I am going to be spending my New Year on an incredible trip to Israel! Well enough about me, because as we all know by now, this blog is dedicated to Buddy and his recipes.

So the recipe that I made this week was originally planned to be my first recipe for the blog. The reason that I scratched it in the first place was that it called for pastry flour, which I didn't have. Buddy says in the recipe that all-purpose flour can be substituted, but I was being stubborn. After I realized how difficult it is to find pastry flour, and how expensive things would get by ordering it, I gave in and decided to go with the all-purpose flour. The recipe was for Taralles, which is a vanilla cookie. Overall I thought the result was good. The dough was simple, and it yielded a good amount in the end.

My biggest problem was the presentation of these cookies. They are supposed to be circles that look like rope. I could not make them look like rope, no matter how hard I tried. So they basically were just circles. They took a little bit longer to bake than the recipe said, but that also might be the oven that I used. This was the first recipe that I didn't make in my apartment, but rather at my mother's house where the appliances are different. Overall the cookies were well received. The average grade was about a B/B+. They were a very simple cookie and comments I got reflected that:

"Needs to be slightly softer, but perfect level of sweetness."
"Tastes like a hamantaschen, without the filling."
"Delicious!"
"Amazing!"

I definitely agreed with the hamantaschen comment. If you've never had a hamantaschen make sure you try one as soon as you finish reading this entry. I personally enjoyed the flavor and texture of the cookie, and it's a possibility that I would make them again. I think they are a good holiday cookie, and maybe with some cinnamon sugar on top could be excellent. Overall Buddy hit the mark with this recipe, now if only I can figure out how to make it look the way it should...

My poor attempt...

So I'm not sure what will be next. I think I'm gonna try to master the Italian Custard cream over the few days that I am home over break. Happy New Years everyone!

Comment, subscribe, send to friends, etc. You all know the deal by now! :)

xoxo

What is a CakeBall?

So I only updated yesterday, but I couldn't wait to make and write a blog entry about my own recipe. I LOVE baking all of Buddy's recipes, but what I made yesterday/today is a Catherine specialty. I think since I did this so early this week, I will try to do another recipe from Buddy's book for later on this week. So if you couldn't guess by the title of this entry, I made cakeballs. Let me explain what a cakeball is before I tell the history of my relationship with the cakeball and why I made it now.

As many of friends would say a cakeball is "a taste of heaven in your mouth." You know that thin layer of cake of where the cake and the icing meet and slightly mix? You know it, it's the best part of the cake! Well a cakeball is that in larger quantity rolled into a ball, dipped in chocolate, covered in sprinkles and then frozen. It's actually really easy to make, and it gives you a chance to be creative with different combinations. I cheat with this recipe and use a cake mix and icing that's already been made, but since my new-found baking skills (thanks to Buddy) I might start to try to make these with homemade cake and icing. Basically all that you do is bake a cake and let it cool. Once it's cooled you crush it up into crumbs and then mix in a container of frosting. Once it's well blended, set it in the fridge to cool for a few hours. After it's hardened a bit, put a piece of wax paper on a baking sheet and roll the cake/icing mixture into balls. Melt chocolate and dip the balls in the chocolate. Cover the balls in sprinkles. Return to fridge until the shell hardens, then move to freezer and voila- you have cakeballs!

This week's batch of cakeballs is yellow cake/vanilla icing mixture covered with milk chocolate! It's probably my personal favorite combination. I want to try a red velvet/cream cheese cake ball soon with the recipes that Buddy has.

I'm not having people review this recipe as I have made it SO many times before, and have gotten all of the feedback I need at this point. :)

My history of the cakeball begins last spring when Stacie made a batch and brought one to me to try. I immediately fell in love, and of course always looking to expand my baking repertoire asked Stacie how to make them. Well that began a summer filled with making cakeballs. Over the course of this past summer I probably made a batch of cakeballs almost every week, sometimes even two. I have tried so many different combinations of cake mix, icing and chocolate that I can't even begin to recall all of the different kinds that were made. My three biggest supporters over the summer were my friends Eliana, Jason and Dan (I know you were all waiting for a shout-out.) Summer at school is pretty quiet and since they are amazing friends I thought what a better way to show my thanks to them, but to bake whatever they like. There has developed a ritual process to eating a cakeball, you have to close your eyes to maximize your smell and taste experience while enjoying.

Of course other friends were visiting over the summer, whether for dinners, birthday parties, or just to hang out, and there always seemed to be at least a bag or two of cakeballs in my freezer at any given point in time. Over the course of my cakeball frenzy, quite a number of people got to experience this creation. Since the fall semester started, I have not had the chance to make them (they are pretty time consuming.) I have been getting a couple of requests, and I finally decided to give in and make a batch for finals week. Depending on how these go, maybe I'll make a second one this week...

There have been constant jokes about me opening a cakeball bakery, but no one can come up with a REALLY good name, so think of one and leave it in the comments sections!

I hope that no one minded my deviation from Buddy's recipes for this entry, but I felt the need to share something that is just totally Catherine. If you'd like a cakeball, or have a suggestion for a combination- LET ME KNOW!!

Also please send this blog on to anyone you know who might be interested. You are all the best! :D

xoxo

Is this what crumb cake is supposed to look like?

After a really successful recipe last week, I was a bit hesitant to move forward. I'm really proud of everything I've made so far, but I'm waiting for something to go terribly wrong (like the Italian custard cream.) Buddy's new show on TLC "The Next Great Baker," premiered this week and it is awesome! I am in total admiration of what these people are able to accomplish in the kitchen, and I hope that some of the things I make can even begin to compare. My biggest problem I think, which played out this week, is that there aren't pictures for the recipes, so you don't necessarily know what everything is supposed to look like... but more on that in a bit.

I want to take a moment and get a bit personal. My school lost an amazing student this past weekend, so I want to dedicate this blog to his memory. Despite the loss, it is amazing to see a community come together and be stronger than ever. I have never been more proud to be a member of my school's community and I hope this sense of unity will carry on for a long time.

This week I decided to make the crumb cake recipe that Buddy uses, but instead of a cake I turned them into cupcakes. Because of the way I bring them around campus and have people sample and grade, it's much easier for me (and them) to have a cupcake and not a random slice of cake. The problem with doing cupcakes is that Buddy gives baking times for his cakes, but not the cupcakes. This then involved me standing in front of my oven and checking the cupcakes every minute or so to make sure that they aren't over- or under-baked. My OCD for these recipes is almost comical. I am an average baker, so I think that if I can manage these recipes, then most people should also be able to.

The first part of this recipe involved making the vanilla cake recipe from Buddy. One of the ingredients for this cake happens to be my arch-nemesis: the Italian Custard Cream. The only good news is that it's optional for this recipe. So for now, I did it without.  Eventually I would LOVE to try to make the cake with the cream, but at this point in the semester and my blog, it might just incite a nervous breakdown. The cake batter was pretty simple to make. I don't think I scraped the bowl well enough as it was going, because the batter seemed just a tad too runny and after I had filled all the cupcake sleeves, I found the bottom of the batter to be a bit thicker. The cake part still came out okay, but next time I make the vanilla cake I will definitely know better.

The next part of the baking process was making the crumb part. I followed the directions to a T, and am still not sure that it came out the way it was supposed to. It tasted the way it was supposed to, but I don't think it looked the way Buddy intended it to. It wasn't crumby at all. It almost looked like another batter of it's own. It was smooth and pretty thick. It was at this point that I might have had a tiny freak out, but Stacie, my roommate, assured my that it was probably okay. I tried to go with it and just make my best out of the situation. I admit that I probably overreacted just a tiny bit, but these recipes have become important to me, and I just want to get them right. In the end I think it all worked out.

The average grade for the Crumb Cake Cupcakes was about an A-/B+.   Some comments were:
"Nice fluffy cupcake. Great sweet and salty crumb."
"Very great crumb cake taste, but could have used some coffee or icing-- a little dry."
"Not too crumby. Moist- Delicious :)."
"Very good! Nice cake consistency. Not too moist or dry. Just right."

Overall, I'd say that this was another successful recipe. I know what I need to tweak next time I make them, but I do expect to be making them again!

So I'm not sure if I am going to be making a new recipe this coming week. It's finals week, which puts me in a difficult position. I do plan on baking something for the following week, which is going to be decided by a couple of friends.  I know that I am making cakeballs this week, which is one of my specialties. If it's okay with everyone, maybe I will go off track next week and do an entry on my cakeballs. If you don't know what cakeballs are, then you are in for a treat! 

Thanks everyone for all your support. Keep reading, commenting, giving suggestions, taste-testing, and sending on to your friends! xoxo.

Is this icing the best ever or just too much?

I wanted to start this entry with a huge THANK YOU to everyone who's been reading and sending this on to others. Earlier this week by blog passed the 500 view mark with people reading from countries all over the world! When I started this only a few weeks ago, I had no idea what the response would be like. I am extremely touched for everyone's continuous support. 

So after what I consider to only be the mediocre biscotti earlier this week, I thought I would try the red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and see if it lived up to the hype that it is on Cake Boss. Even before I had made this recipe, the response of excitement I was getting from friends was way more than I anticipated. I have never seen people get so excited over the fact that I was baking. I was never a big fan of red velvet cake before, but I know that it's a favorite for some people. Much like a lot other recipes that came before, I had never made a red velvet cake... or even a cake from complete scratch for that matter. I have made frosting plenty of times before, but cream cheese icing was a realm I was also unfamiliar with. I can honestly say that these red velvet cupcakes with the cream cheese icing was the post popular baked item for my blog to date! There were people who don't love red velvet cake, who really enjoyed these cupcakes, myself included.

One observation that I made was about the cream cheese icing. I think that people either LOVE cream cheese icing, or they just simply don't like it. I'm not a fan of cream cheese icing, and even though I thought these cupcakes were good, the icing still didn't appeal to me the way a good butter cream icing does. I heard similar remarks from others who feel the same way about cream cheese icing as I do. Because the cupcakes were technically two recipes, I had two separate grades on the grading sheet this week. This way people could evaluate the cake and icing separately. For people who are a fan of cream cheese icing they gave this an easy A, many saying that it was one the best cream cheese icing that they've ever had. Even those who weren't fans of the icing still gave it a pretty high grade.

Overall the grades for the icing AND the cake were a solid A. Many of the graders gave an A to both the icing and the cake, with some even adding a plus to the end :). There were a handful of people who loved the cake and just liked the frosting, and a couple to who the icing lived up to their standards, but not the cake. Some of the comments were:
"Awesome icing! The cake is flavorful, moist and just delicious. I <3 Red Velvet cake!"
"Moist, perfect  combination. I love them!"
"Amazing! Best cream cheese icing I've had in years!"
"AMAZING!! The cake is the perfect texture and the icing is not too sweet- DELICIOUS!"

I'm glad to see that this recipe basically lived up to the hype that surrounded the announcement:

YUMMMMM!

From the baking perspective, this recipe was fairly straight forward and accessible to even the most basic baker. Even though I've made many cakes before, this is the first one entirely from scratch and I managed not to mess it up! I wouldn't say that I've been converted into a red velvet fan, but for this recipe- I am a big supporter. I think that these cupcakes set a new standard for the blog, and we will have to see if anything else in the book can match up or even triumph over the red velvet cupcake with the cream cheese icing. Also a quick shoutout and thanks to Danielle for taking my question seriously from the last entry and trying to find out why red velvet is red!

Keep reading, commenting, giving feedback, sending to friends, etc. Also a couple of guest bloggers might be appearing in the future, so keep your eyes peeled for that.Thanks everyone once again for all of your support!!!

"Meant to be served alongside a freshly pulled espresso"

That's how Buddy best described the recipe of the week, "meant to be served alongside a freshly pulled espresso." If only I had been able to carry around an espresso machine all day... I guess I should back up and start at the beginning.

This weekend I went home to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. As I mentioned in the last entry, my mom told me I couldn't bring home the pumpkin pie, but I felt like I should make something from the blog, so I ended up making the Chocolate Chip cookies from 2 weeks ago. If you can remember that far back then you'll remember how the chocolate chip cookie is a family specialty. It was great having people around campus taste them, but I knew the real test would be to see if my mom, sister and brother-in-law approved, and guess what?!?! They did!! It took a little convincing, but they agreed that it was a solid cookie (but still not as good as the family recipe.) Maybe I could have a cookie-off with Buddy and see who's the real cookie boss!

This week I made another recipe that I've never made or eaten before. The Classic Biscotti (Quaresimali). If you can image the most Italian, traditional biscotti, then you've imagined what I made. I also don't have an ounce of Italian blood in my body, so I'm going to go with there was no natural knowledge of this dessert. I was not sure how biscotti should look or taste, so I was strictly by the book for this recipe. Out of the 3 loaves I made only one was deemed serve-able by my roommate, Stacie. Unlike most recipes that I've seen for biscotti, this one was not double baked, and yet came out harder than anything I have ever experienced food-wise. I see why one would need coffee to enjoy it. My favorite part of making the biscotti was the smell, but I don't think that was enough to keep me coming back to the recipe for years to come. Overall the average grade for the classic biscotti was only a B, with the highest grade being an A, and lowest being a D, with lots of grades in the middle. Some of the comments I recieved were:

"I LOVE the cinnamon!!! Great idea for this time of year :)"
"Great flavor--very classic. Good texture-- would be best with coffee."
"Too hard, good flavor."
"Too hard and dry."

Here is the classic biscotti (taken with my beautiful new camera):

I'm finding that this baking is a great stress reliever (for the most part- except that stupid Italian custard cream!) so I've decided that I will be doing a second recipe this week. As I'm heading into the final weeks of the semester, and working on my thesis, a stress reliever is much needed. I'm going to make Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing tomorrow night and give them out on Friday, so if you're interested in having one let me know. This cupcake will knock off two recipes in my book, so I'm flying through at a pretty good pace so far. If anyone can tell me why they added red food coloring to the cake that we all know as red velvet, you will earn major points in my book! Also I think I will make the Modern Biscotti next week as a good contrast to the classic biscotti. Biscotti-off? I don't think so.

Expect another update in a couple of days! Thanks everyone for all your support. Remember that comments, suggestions, anything is greatly appreciated!

What else for Thanksgiving week, but pumpkin pie?

I'd like to start this week's blog by wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. I know that I have a lot to be thankful for this year, including all the support that I've gotten from everyone reading this blog! I'd also like to thank all of my family and friends for supporting me in whatever I do and being there for me. And what a better way to thank people than to bake and let them try everything for free? I hope all my taste testers have enjoyed everything so far and are looking forward for more to come.

If anyone is wondering how my second attempt at the Italian custard cream went... it didn't, and neither did my third. It's frustrating me so much that something that should be so simple is giving me such a headache. I think I'm going to put it on the back-burner and attempt to retry it between my trip to DC and trip to Israel this winter break. I'll just have to find baked goods that don't use the cream to bring with me on those trips.

So since this week is Thanksgiving what better dish is there to make than pumpkin pie? I was originally planning on baking one and bringing it to my family dinner on Thursday, but my mom kept on telling me that no one would really eat it, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from making it at all. I decided to start the Thanksgiving spirit a little early on campus and bake it for today. I brought the pie to my office, the student union, class and let anyone who wanted have a piece.

I guess I should give a little background on my experience with pie. I've never made a pie before, let alone make the crust (which has a strange reputation of being so difficult.) The amount of times that I've eaten pie could probably be counted on one hand, and I don't like pumpkin so this week was presenting a challenge of it's own. The challenge was that I was not familiar with what I was baking and how things should look or taste. Despite not being a pie connoisseur, I found Buddy's recipe to be very user friendly and accessible.  Don't believe what you read and hear about making a pie crust, because I can tell you that after you make one on your own, you're going to wonder why you would ever buy one. I also worked with spices that I've never touched before and this recipe really took my level of baking up one notch. Overall the reviews of the pie were positive. The average grade was an A-/B+ and some of the comments I received were...
"I love pumpkin and it was delicious."
"Perfect balance of spices." "All-spice and clove were a little overpowering."
"Delicious! I like the texture of the crust; it seemed to have a great balance between the moisture and the crispiness."
"Crust=perfection!"

Even though I don't eat pumpkin pie, I think it turned out pretty well!

I've been asking the question, what would Buddy do? a lot when seeing new situations and not having things turn out like I think they're supposed to. This time I had some extra dough when I put the crust in the pan, so I asked myself, what would Buddy do? and I came up with a solution. I don't know if he would approve of my solution, but I did what worked for me, and I think it all turned out right in the end. I'm learning that a lot of baking is about trusting your instincts while also following the rules, which I think is a good lesson in life. Happy thanksgiving everyone!


Any comments, suggestions, requests, etc. would be greatly appreciated! I also changed the restrictions on comment posting so anyone should be able to post now. Sorry for the inconvenience before!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I've managed to complete my first recipe on this journey. As you may be able to guess from the title- I made chocolate chip cookies. If you're my friend on facebook, or follow me on twitter you might be surprised to see cookies here. If you're wondering why people might be surprised it's because I announced over the weekend that my first recipe was going to be cream puffs, but sadly that did not go as planned. Last night I tried to make the Italian Custard Cream used in the cream puffs, but it just did not turn out the way it was supposed to. :( I'm going to keep on trying until I get it right! Even at this moment there is another batch in my fridge, which I hope sets. If you have any tips or would like to try to help me figure it out, that would be awesome!

Now to this week and what actually happened... Since starting this blog a week ago I came up with the idea of providing a grading sheet to everyone that eats the baked good of the week. This way I get feedback for myself, for everyone else and maybe I'll add it to my permanent list of baked goods. So as I mentioned before, this week was all about the chocolate chip cookie (well only after my failed first attempt at the cream puff.) Making these shouldn't have been a big deal, and honestly the recipe was very simple and easy to complete, however making these became a moral dilemma for me.

If you know me pretty well, then you know that my family's specialty is chocolate chip cookies. We have our own secret family recipe, and these cookies are known far and wide. Basically the only way you can get our recipe is if you marry in. Believe it or not, my mom is the creator of the giant chocolate chip cookie cake and used to bake these cookies day in and out. I grew up baking this recipe for as long as I can remember and have never even attempted to try another recipe because why fix something that isn't broken? However, the time has come to try something new, and I must admit- it is delicious.

Carlo's Bake Shop's chocolate chip cookie recipe is very basic and something most people should be able to do. It doesn't take long and the results beat anything that comes from a store-bought package. As soon as I saw the batter coming together, I had a feeling that this recipe was solid. I wanted people to get the full effect of the cookie, so once they were out of the oven and cooled for about 20 minutes I brought a tray over to my student union and gave anyone who wanted a cookie and a grading sheet. Out of 16 people who graded the average was clearly an A! Some of the comments I received were...
"Generous with the chocolate. Nice and crisp around the edges, but still chewy and soft in the middle."
"Excellent texture-- soft in the center, crunchy edges. Good amount of chips-- nice and melty!"
"Yummy. Perfect blend of crunch and softness."

Here's what the final result looked like:

So I guess I can make these again. It's not the same as making the secret family recipe, but it sure is a crowd-pleaser. Now if I can only figure out this Italian Custard Cream... Next week is Thanksgiving, so you might be safe to guess that a pumpkin pie will be appearing in the near future. Even though this week didn't go as originally planned, I still feel confident that I can do this and bake some of the best treats around!

Any comments, feedback, suggestion, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Beginning the adventure

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my first blog! My name is Catherine and I am currently a college senior. As some of you may know, one of my favorite TV shows is "Cake Boss" on TLC.  Just yesterday I got Buddy's book and have already been engrossed in the content. In case you're not familiar, Buddy is the "boss" on "Cake Boss," and character both on the show and in the kitchen. At the end of this book is a recipe section. Another pastime of mine is baking, and am always looking for a new recipe and challenge in the kitchen to add to my repertoire. Thanks to a suggestion from my roommate, Stacie, I have decided to embark on a journey to bake every recipe that Buddy includes in his book.

I will be blogging every step along the way, including challenges and reviews of the recipes based on my own palate as well as anyone else I can convince to try a sample. I don't know how easy this will be, but I'm excited for a new project. My goal is to complete 1 recipe/dish a week until every recipe is completed.

Hope you will come along for this adventure and see if I can truly be my own "cake boss!"