Goat's Milk + Cheese Corn Bread

I love goat cheese and goats's milk (even though I can't have too much of it - it is much easier on my allergy than cow's milk, as it contains slightly lower levels of lactose) and boy, do I love corn bread. Every good southern girl better know how to make corn bread, that's a fact. I learned how to make corn bread a long time ago, but I learned how to make good cornbread from Doug's mom. In a skillet brushed with bacon fat. Perfect, every time. 

We had a house full of skateboarders the other night, so did a low country boil and the I opted for corn bread muffins. I substituted milk for condensed goat's milk and added dollops of goat cheese baked right on in the bread. 

Do you love cornbread? Do you mix anything in, or keep in plain? I'd love to know your favorite fixings. I'm off to tackle a to-do list a mile long, thankfully I have a helper today. 

Red Velvet + White Lace

Today was an antisocial kind of day where I just wanted to be in my own head and in the kitchen. I guess we all have days like that. I have been wanting cake for a while, but haven't had time to make one, and since I needed to take a few hours off work, I made a little red velvet lace cake. Nothing fancy, just simple and sweet on this weird afternoon. 

I have a feeling my night will be spent in my hobbit hole workshop finishing up some big orders, listening to Loretta Lynn and eating cake. Not bad for a Saturday night.

xo,
Beca

Chocolate Mousse Made Easy + Other Myths of the Wooden Spoon

Who doesn't love chocolate mousse? Okay, I know there are crazy people out there who hate everything that has to do with chocolate, and to be honest, I'm not a huge fan, but I do get crazy cravings for chocolate ever so often. I've been making mousse since the beginning of time. Okay, not really, but for long enough that it's scratched in the back of my brain for eternity. But I was talking with some friends about baking and pastries and the like, and I mentioned mousse and they were so surprised that I made it at home sometimes. Like it was some kind of phenomena. After some further digging, I realized that they aren't the only ones who were terrified by the thought of making mousse, so here's mousse made easy, by me. 

The thing about chocolate mousse, just like french macarons, and really all french baking, is patience. You have to be patient and you have to follow the steps. I kid you not, if you make pate a chaoux and don't use a wooden spoon, I don't think it will come out. I don't know much about myths and legends, but I don't fool around when it comes to french pastries. Use a wooden spoon! 

Mousse is a really special dessert that I can't eat more than a few spoonfuls of, but when my boyfriend, who is sick sick sick, tells me he wants mousse and wants to buy it at the grocery store, I die a little on the inside, and then I stock up on supplies and make it. One millions times better and a little sweeter too.  

Here's what you need to make chocolate mousse:

12 ounces of semi sweet chocolate

1/2 cup of butter

2 1/2 cups of heavy cream

4 large eggs, separated

2 tsp of vanilla

1/2 cup of sugar

Melt your chocolate, vanilla and butter in a double boiler. I just boil water in a saucepan and place a metal bowl in the boiling water to melt my chocolate in. Stir with a wooden spoon. Once your chocolate is smooth, creamy and combined, take it off the heat. Temper your 4 egg yolks and whisk them in slowly. Once your egg yolks are combines, place your mixture into an ice bath to cool. 

Whip your 4 egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks form, place to the side. If you have a hard time whipping egg whites, add a pinch of cream of tartar, it will help your eggs stiffen. Whip your heavy cream place to the side. 

Once your chocolate mixture has cooled, fold in your egg whites, careful to not over mix. You are not trying to deflate your egg whites! Once they are combined, fold in your whipped cream. Chill for 4-12 hours or until desired consistency is reached. In my house, it's usually just about 4 hours, because we are ready for mousse STAT. Top with whipped cream and chocolate Shavings, and enjoy the shit out of it. You earned it. 

Have you made chocolate mousse, or another kind of mousse? I have been itching to make some white chocolate raspberry mousse, and maybe a chocolate orange. Stay tuned!

xo,

Beca

Greek Yogurt Biscuit

My sis-in-law found this amazing recipe for greek yogurt buscuits and we finally got a chance to try them out last night and sweet baby J, they are amazing. I couldn't wait to take photos this morning and share the recipe with you.

It's super duper easy, and you probably have everything you need to make them.

1 1/4 cup of greek yogurt

TBSP of honey

Pinch of Salt

1 1/4 Self Rising Flour

Directions: Whisk your flour and salt together and create a well in the bowl for your yogurt and honey, Use a fork and fold the flour into the yogurt until it is crumbly and forms a dough. Be careful to not over work it, your biscuits will not rise if they are over worked. Throw your dough out on a floured surface and press it out with your palm until it is about 1/2 inch thick, or a smidge thicker. Cut out 2 inch circles without twisting the cutter/jar lid. Lay out on greased baking pan and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy with homemade apple butter or honey drizzle!

xo,

Beca

PS If you're interested, this biscuit is only 98 calories and 2 grams of fat. Huzzzzzah!

Homemade Mini Eclairs

This afternoon, Doug and I took a break from work and headed over to his mom's house to spend some time with his niece before she headed back to Tallahassee. We were watching sweet genius (the worst show ever!) and Moe and Doug both said they wanted something sweet. Doug wanted something chocolate, or pudding, and Moe wanted Bavarian cream and chocolate. I don't want anything unless it's Sprite and Cough Drops, but instead of being a lump on the couch, I said "Eclairs?" Both of their eyes lit up and they asked where we could get eclairs in town. I scoffed and got off the couch and got busy.

If you've never made Pate a Choux before, it isn't always a walk in the park. It can be temperamental. Here is my go to recipe, and it's certainly one of those recipes you need to read the steps before you get started.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

Heat on the saucepan 1/2 cup of butter and one cup of water until melted completely.

Use a WOODEN SPOON (I can't stress this enough, don't use a whisk, don't use anything other than a wooden spoon) and stir in a pinch of salt and one cup of flour. You can gradually add in the flour and stir as the pastry dough creates a ball and pulls away from the pan.

Take off the heat and add your dough to your mixer. Use your dough hook and start on slow (Kitchenaid setting 2-3) and add in 4 eggs, one at a time. don't add them all at once because the heat of the dough will start cooking the eggs before the mix. Turn your mixer up to Med (5) and mix for a few moments until combined.

Use a round pastry tip in a pastry bag and spoon your mixture into bag.

Pipe your dough onto a greased baking sheet, about 2 inches long, and about 1 inch away from each other. Should make about 15 shells.

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, and then turn down you heat to 300 and bake for another 20 minutes. Your shell should be hollow and airy. If you can pick up your shell and tap the bottom and it isn't soft, then you have succeeded.

If your shell is still doughy, then turn your oven off and close the door. Let your shells dry out for a good 5-10 minutes, checking them often.

Let your shells cool completely. While they are cooling, start your fillings and ganache.

I use one cup of heavy cream and about a cup or so of chocolate chips. Heat your heavy cream in saucepan until it is simmering. Take it off the burner and whisk in chocolate chips until your ganache is thick and dark.

For the filling, heavy whipping cream, whipped to it's finest. Instant pudding. Easy peasy.

Fill your shells and enjoy the heck out of them! You deserve it!

Happy Sunday!

xo,

Beca

Six Tips to Making the Perfect Quiche + A Trusted Recipe

+ Q U I C H E +

I love making quiche. It's easy and healthy and can be made with about one million different ingredients. But, in the past when I have posted photos or blogged about quiches I have made, people ask me about my crust recipe, how to bake the quiche through and how to spice it. I thought it was about time I shared a few of my simple little secrets to making the perfect quiche.

A quiche is a savory egg pie...an omelet with a crust. This morning I made a broccoli cheddar quiche, a staple in this household. To start, you need a good solid pie crust recipe. Pie dough can be daunting. But don't immediately go for the packaged pie crust when you can just as easily make an amazing pie crust yourself.

+ P I E C R U S T +

For a really flaky pie crust, you only need four ingredients. Sour cream, salt, butter and flour. To make one pie crust:

2.5 cups of all purpose flour

8 oz of sour cream

8 oz (or about 2 sticks) of unsalted , softened butter

1 TSP salt

Put all of your ingredients in your food processor and mix them until they form a ball. Flour your ball and knead briefly to combine all ingredients fully. Gramma says that a few chunks of butter are okay because they will just melt into your crust when you bake it. MOST IMPORTANTLY, chill your pie crust for at least 20 minutes before you roll it out. If you dont, it won't retain it's shape and you will get one melty mess on your hands.

+ I N G R E D I E N T S +

Quiches should be easy!! I know, that is so counter-intuitive to baking and cooking, but really, they should be so gosh darn easy it hurts! A simple throw together meal when you have a hodge podge of ingredients in your fridge and a hungry houseful of skateboarders (usually my case.) This is my go-to quiche recipe is easy, and it's also tip #2!

5 eggs (or 8-9 egg whites)

1.5 cups of heavy whipping cream

About 2 cups of cheese

2 cups of bulk ingredient (today it was broccoli, but this is where you can get creative)

pinch full of salt and pepper. Be generous, it will balance out the sweetness of the cream.

Whisk together well and pour evenly into your already rolled out pie crust. Tip #3, I always add slices of cheese to the top of the quiche to give it that extra oompf with a sprinkle of pepper to the crust. Tip #4; you can make your quiche healthier by using egg whites, but don't skimp on the heavy cream. It is what makes your quiche full and balanced. I suppose you could use half and half, but I don't think it's the same.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. If your quiche is still jiggly in the middle, it needs more time. I like my crust extra crispy so I don't cover it, but you can cover the edges of your pie with tin foil to keep it from getting to crunchy. Tip #5, rotate your quiche from the top rack to the bottom rack after about 15 minutes. Since heat rises, you quiche will bake at a lower temp and be solid all the way through with out drying out.

And lastly, tip #6, if your quiche seems on the edge of being done but your knife just isn't coming out clean, turn your over off, leave the door shut and let your quiche slow bake for 8-10 more minutes! Viola! Quiche!

A few other helpful hints, if you took your quiche out of the oven too soon but didn't check it until it was sitting out for a while, you can always pop it into the microwave (if you used a glass pie pan like me, which I suggest anyways,) and nuke it. The eggs will bind together and you won't get a runny quiche!

A few awesome quiche combos: Chicken sausage, pear and brei // broccoli cheddar // roasted red pepper and feta // mushroom, tomato and swiss // Broccoli, spinach, basil and mozzarella.

Back to work for me, happy baking!

xo,

Beca

The Kitschen

I discovered that Jes, an old friend of mine, and one of my past baker girls has a new little etsy shop that is worth a check out - it's called The Kitschen and it full of super rad cake stands and vintage kitchen wares.

Take a peek and happy baking in this new year!

xo,

Beca

A Bouquet of Herb Rolls

I have been aching to bake bread. It is one of my favorite things to make. There are so many options when it comes to bread and I love that it takes so much patience. Bread baking really is a whole day (or in some cases a whole week) process and I love it!

These rolls are super easy to make and you can change the spices you use, or not use any spices and just make plain rolls.

After you let your dough chill for 2 hours in the fridge, it should have risen twice its size. I knock the air out of the dough and then you can use a number of different ways to separate your dough.

I made three different trays of rolls. One spiral, one tulip and one that I like to call the gobstopper, lots of little balls of dough! Once you have your rolls separated out, I let them rise for another hour on top of the stove (the stove was turned on to warm for the first 45 minutes, then turned up to 400*

Bake at 400* for 12-15 minutes or until they start to get golden on top! It got way too dark in the house so I had to run out to the porch to take photos of the finished product. They came out so pretty, it was hard to even eat one, but not that hard...The outside was crispy and flaked with sea salt and herbs, and the inside was soft and fluffy. Pretty perfect.

I have to be careful or else I'll scarf all of these down instantly. These will be great with soup tonight, or maybe some tomato pasta.

xo,

Beca

Mucho Mocha Macarons

In the last 6 months, I have had a roller coaster love/hate relationship with making Macarons. There is all this taboo around them, and I tend scoff at anything that has unnecessary stigma surrounding it. But I'm going to be real with you, here. French Macarons haven't been easy for me. I don't have schooling when it comes to baking, I learn as I go and use some kind of common sense and follow the recipe to a T. However, I am used to things turning out, usually on the first go. I guess that's why i have stuck with baking/decorating for so long, because it's easy. French Macarons are not easy. Even though I vowed to just follow the recipe, I find myself talking to the cookies, willing them to come out right. Voodoo, hoodoo, knock on wood, I do it, because I don't care what anyone says, these cookies are temperamental and I get very frustrated when they don't come out perfectly.

I went from having a 50% success rate when I first learned how to make them, to having about a 90% success rate. Yowza! Sometimes I have bad days and they just don't turn out. The foot isn't developed, or I over mix my base. It happens. I don't worry to much about it. Trash them, start over. But I have actually started liking the process. I enjoy finding the perfect consistency, and piping the right size, letting them rest just long enough.

Yesterday, or the day before, I can't remember now, all of my days are blending together, I made these mocha macarons. They came out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Just the perfect bland of espresso and cocoa, with a sweet chocolate buttercream.

I don't have too much of a sweet tooth, and my teeth tend to hurt when I eat a lot of sugar, BUT, I took a itty bitty bite from one and they tasted just like a mocha!

That's all for now. Back to the work table for some Mad Men and making sunglasses. Also, I am interested in doing a lot more dessert recipes on here. Any requests??

xo,

Beca

Smile for Shortbread

I wanted to share my favorite recipe for shortbread with you today! It is the easiest cookie recipe I know, and takes about 10 minutes to get the batch in the oven! The perfect treat for a summer picnics or little get togethers.

Beca's Shortbread Cookie Recipe:

2 cups of all purpose flour (plus a little handful for kneading)

1/2 cup of confectioners sugar

1 cup (or about 2 sticks) of room temp butter

3 tsp of vanilla extract

A pinch or two of salt

Mix all your dry ingredients together and fold in the butter and vanilla. Dump the crumble ball of dough onto a floured surface, and knead gently until combined. Roll to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out your cookies.

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes at 350. They should fluff up a bit, but not too much.

Your cookies should be fluffy and light, with a slightly browned bottom. Let them cool completely before you enjoy them! They will burn your tongue! I know from experience!

And don't forget to smile, often.

I also made a second batch in teacup shaped for a little shortbread tea party. They were delicious with some red grapes and dark chocolate.

xo,

Beca

Sweet Treat Round Up

After a 10 hour work day today (and a 10 mile bike ride) I have a few new photos to share, plus some photos that of sweet treats that I haven't shared from the past week or so. (psss, this is what I look like at work. Can you see how dirty my apron is!!)

Enjoy!

White Cake / Half chocolate Mousse - Half Strawberry Cream / Buttercream

Dark Chocolate / Tangerine Macaron

Almond Joy Cupcakes

Chocolate Cake / Chocolate Buttercream

Chocolate Cake / Vanilla Buttercream

White Cake / Bavarian Cream / Vanilla Buttercream

Carrot Cake / Cream Cheese

Raspberry Lemon Macarons

Black Forest Cupcakes

White Cake / Strawberry Cream / Vanilla Buttercream

xo,

Beca

(ps, thank you for all of your sweet comments about my work / bike seat predicament. I am handling it in the best way I know how. More on this later.)