Love and Olive Oil's April Kitchen Challenge: Eclairs

If you can believe it, there was once a time in my life when I couldn't make pie crust from scratch. Actually, before that, cupcakes. For whatever reason, I decided during my sophomore year of college that I was going to teach myself to bake. I had never cared for baking before, or cooking for that matter, but loved gazing at all the beautiful sweet treats at my local bakery and thought I could make those too. I'm a sucker for a challenge and will accomplish anything I put my mind to, so, when I saw that one of my favorite food bloggers, Love and Olive Oil, hosted monthly challenges, I decided to join.

The challenge for April was eclairs and whoa man! are they work. I must note that these really are for an experienced baker. Seriously. Start with cookies or cupcakes if you're wanting to get into baking and move from there. They may not be the most difficult but they're incredibly time consuming (try 7 hours from start to finish). Honestly, my biggest challenge, aside from lack of patience, was getting the filling in the pastry, so it could have been much worse.

Fortunately, I had tasted an eclair pretty recently to know what I didn't want mine to turn out like. It seems that eclairs often get a bad rap because bakeries around the country keep them on the shelf past their best taste date. Bummer. So this was my chance to make a fresh eclair and enjoy it immediately. They were delicious!

Eclair recipes can be found anywhere on the internet, but I used the Bouchon Bakery recipe found in their book:

Tasty!

In the end, my book club group got to enjoy fresh eclairs during our meeting, and I got to try something new. It was a win. The monthly challenge is such a great idea and I can't wait to do it again. Thanks, Love and Olive Oil for hosting!

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A Post: Blondies for Your Valentines

I'm not actually a huge fan of the holiday that pushes candy (I'm ok with the chocolate) and roses and diamonds. However, I am a big fan of the pretty little cards that you can find at places like here, here and here. And baking treats like those you see above... I'm sorry, but also not sorry because they are delicious!

I snagged this recipe from one of my favorite foodie sites, Simply Recipes:

Things you'll need:

• 1/2 cup of butter, melted
• 1 cup of tightly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup of butterscotch chips (I added chocolate chips, too.)

To make:

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour an 8X8 pan. Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a bowl.

2 Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk.

3 Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, mix it all together. Add the butterscotch chips or other mix-ins.

4 Pour into the pan (I poured mine into individual silicone cups) and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool. Cut into squares and serve.

(Gooey goodness)

So, what are your plans for the holiday? Any treats you'd like to share?! I'd love to see them!

Happy Valentine's Day, bookworms!

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Candy and Family: A Halloween Edition

Happy Halloween, bookworms!  Okay, so I'm a little late, but I hope you enjoyed yours as much as I did mine!

A bookish update: I'll be meeting with my reading group this coming Tuesday for our second, and last, discussion of Chris Cleave's Little Bee.  So far, it's been an exceptional title, and I'm really looking forward to finishing it up and discussing my overall views with the ladies in Atlanta.  Sadly, yesterday was the last day of National Reading Group Month, and I'm hoping that my previous post of helpful hints inspired you to organize your own! Furthermore, I'm excited to announce that I've taken the opportunity to create and co-lead a reading group for the Feminist Women's Health Center in Atlanta, Georgia.  The reading group will be tackling, both, fiction and nonfiction titles, with a primary focus on women's issues in literature, and the world around us.  This endeavor will no doubt present a welcome challenge, and provide valuable learning experiences for myself and participants in the community.  Details for those living in the Atlanta area to come!

Now before I move on and present some delicious homemade Halloween treats, let me first offer a little background to put the whole event in perspective...

Every year, around this time, my sweetheart, J, meets his family in their home state of Illinois. They get together with warm embraces, side-splitting stories, delicious food and smiling faces.  Last year, I had the opportunity to join in on such a jaunty occasion (and meet all 40+ members at one time)!  This year  we celebrated J's Granddad's 90th birthday, and I experienced my first inclusion on their annual trip to the university he attended some years ago: Notre Dame.  I may not be a football fan, but the whole experience was almost too sublime to put into words. I enjoyed every minute of it, and can't wait to do it again next year!

Since we wouldn't be celebrating Halloween at home, and I really wanted to excite some Halloween cheer, I decided to take little goodie bags with homemade candy bark to the family.

I must say, I was mighty proud of the outcome, and thought it cruel not to share with all my lovely readers.  I improvised with this Epicurious recipe, and, that's ok; why shouldn't you be able to customize your own homemade candy bark? So, I figured I'd tempt you with some photos that would  encourage you to make your own!



Note: I made one batch on a baking sheet lined with foil so that I got traditional looking bark.  For the second batch, I used foil cupcake/muffin liners to make candy that resembled peanut butter cups.

Final Product:  

I'd like to take just a moment to share marvelous book I received from a Goodreads GIVEAWAY: Russian Winter. Yes, I won my first giveaway!  It also happened to be a title I was really anticipating.  Don't worry, I'll be sharing real soon.  Promise.

Let me know what you think!  How did you spend your Halloween holiday?  Any spooky reads or recipes you'd like to share?  I'd love to hear!

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