French Baking with Brenna

Our friend, Brenna, came to visit us this weekend and it was so good to see her! Heather and I were talking about baking before she arrived and because Brenna studied in Paris, speaks French, and went to France with Jaime and me, we thought it would be appropriate to have a French themed baking weekend. So, our baking menu included French Macarons, baguettes, and crepes. On Saturday, Heather and the kids came over and we got started with the macarons. First, we had to make almond flour by food processing almonds and then sifting them. This turned out to be quite the chore, but we finally got enough for our two recipes.

While Heather finished up the flour, Brenna and I started whipping and coloring the egg whites.

Our egg whites whipped to stiff peaks.

Next, Heather folded the egg whites into the dry ingredients.

Then she piped them onto the cookie sheets while Brenna and I worked on the second batch.

Piping the second batch.

Coming out of the oven. We had to cook each pan separately.

Brenna and I started on our second project, baguettes. This recipe was much simpler.

Micah helped knead the dough, look at those precious little hands!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the kitchen, Heather was frosting the macarons. 

Then she had a photo shoot and got some great shots.

Here we are with the finished product. The macarons were tasty, but a lot of work.

The baguettes were also tasty, we had them with our dinner of almond crusted chicken and broccoli.

The next night, the whole family came over for Sunday night dinner and we made crepes for dessert.

Heather mixed up the batter and Brenna and I did the baking.

The results were delicious.

Chocolate Molten Cake

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pie on Sunday (Again)

Last fall we thought it would be fun to have Sunday night be pie night. For some reason or another, that didn't end up happening very many times. We decided to revive the thought for tonight at least. This is a chocolate peanut butter pie from my favorite cookbook I've used called "Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie" by Ken Haedrich. It was a Christmas gift from the Nickells in 2005 and has resulted in many delicious pies that don't disappoint. Tonight's pie was no exception. It had an Oreo crumb crust, a peanut butter/cream cheese filling, and a chocolate mocha topping; rich, creamy, and delicious, plus easy to make!

Wine and Chocolate

An after dinner treat, combined with strawberries and oranges dipped in chocolate.

Out With the Old

I finished my last day of work at Wildflower Cafe in Exeter yesterday and to celebrate I threw away my work shoes. They are a year old and thrashed. I'm getting rid of all my work shirts too, which are in better condition than my shoes, but have gotten stained or bleached from the year and a half that I worked at Wildflower. Moving on, and excited to be!