tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251669072012-02-01T11:22:33.065-05:00Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.comBlogger2101100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-75738741319694339062011-12-09T01:00:00.027-05:002011-12-09T01:20:24.526-05:00

I absolutely loved reading Christina Tosi's Milk Bar cookbook. I loved reading about the development of her recipes as well as the process of creation through necessity. I will use much of the information as inspiration for my own experiments in the kitchen. The book was like a glimpse into the mind of a sugar-fueled pastry savant. I actually read this cookbook from cover to cover. I read

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-74833340391501982382011-11-15T01:00:00.005-05:002011-12-09T01:18:11.954-05:00

Today is National Bundt Day. November 15th was first designated as such 5 years ago by Nordic Ware, a U.S.-based kitchenware company best know for their Bundt ™ pan. For the past 3 years Mary, The Food Librarian, has celebrated by making 30 bundts in the 30 days leading up to National Bundt Day. It's an impressive feat and I am amazed by how many different bundt-shaped pans she owns. It's

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-45844089199251359742011-11-07T01:23:00.004-05:002011-12-09T01:18:27.735-05:00

I guess I've been in a Christina Tosi mood lately. She's the pastry chef at Momofuku's Milk Bar in New York City and her Milk Bar cook book was just released in late October. I made Milk Bar's amazing crack pie recently (using the LA Times' version of her recipe not the recipe in the Milk Bar book which is slightly different) and her kitchen sink cookie, the compost cookie, remains one of my

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-74920983904451053642011-10-27T01:08:00.004-04:002011-10-27T03:06:29.543-04:00

I love making yeasted enriched breads. Even though most enriched breads are more bread than pastry, the fact that they are enriched with milk, eggs and butter makes them seem more like dessert. For this month's Daring Bakers' challenge hostess Jenni asked us to make povitica, an Eastern European dessert bread. It can also be known as potica, nutroll, kolachi, or strudia. I went old school and

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-8345558349040847972011-10-05T18:21:00.002-04:002011-10-05T18:29:55.163-04:00

If you follow the food media, then you know about crack pie. I mean, Crack Pie ™. Yup, I believe that Momofuku has trademarked the name. I did not have a chance to visit Momofuku's Milk Bar during my last visit to New York City, but I will definitely go to Milk Bar during my next trip to NYC. And I will try Christina Tosi's Crack Pie ™. If the real thing tastes anything like the pie I baked

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-12572852072482415862011-09-27T15:41:00.000-04:002011-09-27T15:41:46.021-04:00

I totally wanted to dust off my rolling pin and participate in this month's Daring Bakers' croissant challenge, but I just couldn't find enough time to fit it in before the posting deadline. Croissants have been on my baking to-do list forever and I don't think I will be marking it off anytime soon. I've been baking less since I've been trying to eat less sugar lately. I don't like using

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-36109807791525480502011-06-27T00:08:00.015-04:002011-06-27T18:20:11.787-04:00

Whenever I think of fresh handmade phyllo I always think about Shaharazad Bakery, a little shop in the Sunset district of San Francisco. The shop has been closed for years now, but from what I remember, the owner made excellent phyllo. A true artisan. I think he was the only person in San Francisco who sold fresh phyllo dough made by hand. He had a table in the back room that was just the

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-59058393869552443882011-06-08T00:59:00.008-04:002011-06-12T01:14:49.226-04:00

For months I have been obsessed with the idea of a Parisian macaron (gerbet) that looks like a burger. I finally got around to making some just in time to celebrate the upcoming Father's Day, a day typically associated with the outdoors and firing up the grill, on June 19th. And what is more father- and grill- friendly than burgers? The macarons that I make always seem to look like little

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-43820574993531413392011-04-27T02:12:00.001-04:002011-04-27T02:13:17.199-04:00

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Evelyne who asked us to make a maple mousse. Evelyne is from Quebec where spring typically begins with a pilgrimage to a sugar shack ("Cabane a Sucre"). The party continues with a feast of eggs, ham, peas, pork rinds, beans, pancakes, bacon and pies - all served with maple syrup. The maple mousse recipe she gave us makes a mousse that is

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-84625805311413883062011-04-11T16:43:00.004-04:002011-04-16T01:54:59.527-04:00

I don’t know how I came across the snickerdoodle blondie. I was most likely food porn gawking taste spotting photo grazing when I spied a photograph of them. The cinnamon flecked crackly sugar crust atop the moist blondie base was so inviting that I could practically smell the vanilla cinnamon scent that's so characteristic of snickerdoodles. I could not wait to whip up a batch. After some

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-53101340473650321782011-03-27T00:04:00.001-04:002011-03-27T02:36:00.076-04:00

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. Even though it's called a coffee cake it does not contain any coffee (unless you want to use coffee as a flavoring then it would be a coffee coffee cake). It's also less of a cake than it is a bread. But

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-19506384851815674292011-03-07T21:03:00.004-05:002011-03-08T02:10:55.664-05:00

I realized that I was pretty cranky when I wrote my previous post. I blame it on my diet. I'm participating in a New Year's weight loss challenge at the office. We're in week 8 right now and even though I'm doing fairly well - there are 20 participants and I am currently in the top 3 overall "losers" - I am constantly dreaming about food. In the beginning I was dreaming about pizza from Flour

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-13331078643545406562011-02-27T00:08:00.006-05:002011-02-27T04:49:17.924-05:00

I've always been on the fence about panna cotta. I've eaten both sweet and savory panna cottas quite a few times, but only when it's part of a restaurant's tasting menu or as an amuse bouche. My most recent one was a savory cauliflower panna cotta with caviar. I would never actually order panna cotta if I had a choice. It's not something I gravitate towards. And I'm not a fan Giada de

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-24841585427614560622011-01-27T00:01:00.043-05:002011-01-27T01:07:45.357-05:00

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She challenged us to make a biscuit joconde imprime to wrap around an entremets dessert. A joconde imprime is a decorative design baked into a light sponge cake providing an elegant finish to desserts/torts/entremets/ formed in ring molds. Entremets is an ornate dessert with different layers of cake and pastry

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-53958325162502234582010-12-18T00:08:00.002-05:002010-12-19T16:25:02.406-05:00

When I was in London in October I made sure we had time to have lunch at Ottolenghi. Ottolenghi is everything I want in a food shop. Huge platters and bowls of the most colorful and delicious salads. I'm not talking about sad wilted lettuce greens with a couple of chunks of pale tomatoes. I'm talking about grilled broccolini with mild red chili peppers and toasted garlic or roasted potatoes

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-54083872989447937992010-11-11T21:47:00.001-05:002010-11-11T21:48:36.969-05:00

This truly autumnal cupcake is chocked full of warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, clove and cardamom. I topped it with a masala chai frosting to complement the spices in the cupcake. Chai is the generic word for tea in many South Asian countries. So when you hear someone say "chai tea" they are actually saying "tea tea" without realizing it. In America chai usually means masala chai which is a

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-5264270432306279482010-10-27T00:05:00.007-04:002010-10-29T14:59:38.968-04:00

Hostess Lori of "Butter Me Up" gave us not one, but four donut recipes to use for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge. And she let us play with any flavors we wanted. With so much freedom you'd think that I could've completed the challenge as asked. But I did not. Yes, I made donuts. But instead of deep frying my donuts, I baked my donuts. My baked donuts looked like donuts, but they

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-16613728211984877412010-10-08T02:57:00.002-04:002010-10-08T03:00:40.991-04:00

Apples The local apple season typically begins with the floral and crisp Gravenstein apples showing up at the farmers' market around mid-August. Four weeks later the Gravensteins are all gone, but that's when the season really kicks into high gear. Every Saturday at the Ferry Building farmers' market during apple season, I can find no less than 25 different varieties of just harvested apples.

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-28568313431054293922010-09-27T02:54:00.001-04:002010-09-27T03:12:40.839-04:00

For September's Daring Bakers' challenge hostess Mandy of "What the Fruitcake" asked everyone to make decorated sugar cookies. I've never been a fan of rolled sugar cookies. Maybe because I suck at rolling out anything at all. Whether it's a pie crust or cookie dough, I'm just not good at it. I'm an even lesser fan of decorated sugar cookies. Maybe it's because I suck at decorating especially

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-19913371601241128822010-08-27T01:02:00.001-04:002010-08-29T03:34:55.233-04:00

For this month's Daring Bakers' challenge, hostess Elissa asked us to use beurre noisette (more commonly known as browned butter) to make a cake. But there is nothing common about browned butter. It's butter that has been heated until its milk solids turn brown. The browned milk solids impart that toasty, nutty flavor and scent that is characteristic of beurre noisette. Elissa wanted us to

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-68387133979557325892010-08-09T04:15:00.005-04:002010-08-17T16:44:02.313-04:00

The Bay Area is having its coolest summer in decades. Today's high temperature in San Francisco was 60F. If you are experiencing sweltering summer weather (like in the Midwestern or Southeastern US), baking might be the last thing on your mind. But for me, turning on the oven was a welcoming blast of warmth. I went a little overboard buying nectarines at the farmers' market. (Blossom Bluff

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-71727260217138963192010-06-27T04:25:00.011-04:002010-08-17T16:43:10.145-04:00

I've been a total blog slacker lately. I haven't posted anything since last month's Daring Bakers' challenge. I wish I could say that I was busy with work, travel or the World Cup. Or that I haven’t had the time to bake lately. But I don't have any excuses. Work is, well, work and that's as busy as it has always been. My next big vacation isn't until the fall. And I value sleep over watching

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-38587911868971891422010-05-27T00:01:00.003-04:002010-05-27T02:11:22.207-04:00

For our Daring Baker's challenge Cat of Little Miss Cupcake asked us to make a piece montée (aka croquembouche). The classic piece montée is a tall cone shaped tower of pastry cream filled cream puffs that are dipped in chocolate or caramel. The puffs are bound together with caramel to hold the cone shape. There are 3 components: pate a choux (cream puff dough), pastry cream (to fill the

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-49492757765341328202010-05-17T21:50:00.002-04:002010-05-17T21:52:53.490-04:00

Even though I regularly shop for groceries about once a week, I only go to the Asian supermarket once, maybe twice, a year so I tend to stock up on necessities. But I also tend to buy some things that I might not need like that big jar of Ovaltine I bought in early 2009. For those of you who have never heard of Ovaltine it's a brand of sweetened malted cocoa drink mix. My mother used to make it

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-8846285850238181202010-04-21T17:19:00.008-04:002010-04-22T17:34:13.520-04:00

My nephew is the first born of my parents' first born (aka my older brother). The year was 2000 which was the year of the dragon. But it wasn't just any year of the dragon. It was the year of the golden dragon which only comes around every 60 years. That made it a very auspicious year to have a baby. So sometimes I call him the "golden child" because of that. Well, that and the fact that he's

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-38068622171252171662010-03-27T00:38:00.003-04:002010-05-15T21:16:06.232-04:00

Jennifer from Chocolate Shavings is our host for the March 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge. She presented us with an orange tian which she made for the first time a few months ago at the Alain Ducasse Cooking School in Paris, France. An orange tian is a layered dessert: a base of pate sablee, orange marmalade, whipped cream topped with fresh orange segments and served with a caramel and orange

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-67977757609240995192010-03-20T18:26:00.005-04:002011-10-05T18:27:59.699-04:00

I didn't visit the much talked about Momofuku Milk Bar the last time I was in New York City. I did eat at Momofuku Noodle Bar where I indulged in a bowl of their famous ramen and those amazing pork belly buns, but never made it to Milk Bar. Milk Bar is best known for their crack pie and their compost cookies. The compost cookie recipe has been floating around the internet ever since Christina

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-35046481011946317822010-02-27T02:27:00.002-05:002010-02-27T02:42:42.938-05:00

Time for another Daring Bakers' challenge. This month's challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They came up with an amalgamation of recipes for a tiramisu. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post (newspaper), Cordon Bleu at Home (cookbook) and Baking Obsession (blog). Tiramisu is typically custardy mascarpone

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-44204722674205586742010-02-21T00:57:00.003-05:002010-02-21T03:37:10.148-05:00

During a recent trip to New York City my brother Rich wanted to stop at Magnolia Bakery. He had tried Magnolia's coconut cake once before and absolutely loved it. Since we were close enough to the Rockefeller Center location of Magnolia we walked over to have a slice. As we approached the bakery we saw the huge line of about 40 people wrapped around the corner storefront. I've never seen such a

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-60012403745313797232010-02-09T20:53:00.001-05:002010-02-12T13:09:46.674-05:00

Every few years the Presidents' Day weekend coincides with Valentine's Day or with the Chinese New Year (aka the lunar new year). There is a confluence of the three this year which means my three day weekend will not be exclusively for rest and relaxation, but for observing Chinese New Year traditions. The house must be cleaned and all laundry must be done before our Chinese New Year's Eve's

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-50343131538166883392010-01-27T01:12:00.004-05:002010-02-21T00:58:35.247-05:00

Lauren of Celiac Teen asked us to go gluten-free for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge. She gave us a recipe for gluten-free graham crackers to try out. But being the kind hostess that she is, she also gave us the option to be wheat-based if we could not find the three specialty flours used in the gluten-free version. I was able to find two of the three flours very easily. Tapioca flour and

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-82769344764410212092010-01-20T03:44:00.001-05:002010-01-27T01:29:29.217-05:00

... and ended with some cookies. I've been trying out different chocolate brownie recipes lately. Some recipes have been good, but not great. And some have been downright bad. I don't know if it's me or the recipes, but I have yet to find a recipe that I love. I have always had trouble making simple chocolate brownies. Pate a choux? No problem. Cheesecake? A breeze. Molten caramel? Piece

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-54167577968593320972010-01-06T04:15:00.002-05:002010-01-27T01:29:16.082-05:00

Happy New Year! I hope your holiday season was delightful. I guess the proper thing to do in January is post about a low-fat/low-calorie dessert. But if you know anything about me you know that I don't do low-fat/low-cal dessert. I believe that you can eat dessert as long as it's in moderation. So even if you're watching your waistline, it's okay to have a cupcake every once in awhile. And if

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-58601271648498703532009-12-24T22:07:00.005-05:002009-12-28T01:18:15.587-05:00

For December's Daring Bakers' challenge we were asked to bake and decorate a gingerbread house. Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi gave us two recipes for gingerbread. Anna provided a recipe from Good Housekeeping magazine and Y's was from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas. I decided to make a half portion of Y's recipe. I didn't use the spices that the recipe

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-50587333142470798862009-12-03T21:16:00.002-05:002009-12-28T01:16:19.657-05:00

Even though I consider myself more of an optimist than a pessimist, I am also a realist. And the reality is there are some people out there who do some bad things. So when you lose your wallet you would expect that it's lost for good and that your identity might be compromised (i.e. stolen). Just when you think that the world can be a pretty messed up place someone does something to remind you

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-47017658382523657122009-11-16T02:50:00.004-05:002009-12-28T01:15:59.103-05:00

For the past couple months I've been buying tons of apples from the farmers' market every weekend. I can get varieties that are not available in the supermarket. Arkansas Black, Philo Gold, Wickson, Connell Red, Northern Spy and Spitzenberg just to name a few. Sadly the local apple season is coming to end and I'll have to go back to eating supermarket apples that have been in cold storage for

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-7302017219579777102009-11-05T03:47:00.005-05:002009-12-29T20:12:50.742-05:00

I love zucchini. I eat it year round. It's my absolutely favorite weeknight vegetable since it's so easy to prepare. Just slice them up and put them in some boiling water with a pinch of salt. I could eat it every night. And I actually make zucchini bread because I really like it not just because someone had a bumper crop of zucchini. Zucchini bread was one of the first things I ever baked on

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-66021269014366669892009-10-31T03:44:00.004-04:002009-11-02T21:44:30.964-05:00

The premise behind the You Want Pies With That? event is to make a pie based on the chosen theme. Then everyone who made a pie that month can vote for their favorite pie and the baker with the most votes gets choose the theme the following month. Jeanette and I had the honor of choosing a theme for October. We decided on "Masquerade Pie" - make a pie that has a secret. We suggested that "You

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-59905465808460343402009-10-27T02:04:00.007-04:002011-06-07T21:02:47.624-04:00

I am writing this post as I munch on a Miette chocolate macaron that my husband bought me. That should tell you how well my macaron making experience went during this month's Daring Bakers' challenge. Ami S. asked us to make macarons using a recipe from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern. We could use any filling our hearts desired. [Note: Macarons, which

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-80332106241883002009-10-20T21:42:00.004-04:002009-10-20T21:54:13.484-04:00

The taste and scent of cardamom is hard to describe. It's very distinct and unique. If you're familiar with it, there is no mistaking it. If you're not familiar, then you might say it's floral with a hint a ginger. I would never describe it as spicy. Cinnamon is spicy. Ginger is spicy. Cardamom is not. I am at a loss for how else to describe the mysterious and exotic cardamom.The yogurt along

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-15113349293369696502009-09-27T01:30:00.010-04:002009-10-29T15:08:38.408-04:00

Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon was the gracious hostess of this month's Daring Bakers' challenge. She chose vols-au-vents made with homemade puff pastry. It's not the first time the Daring Bakers were challenged to make laminated dough. There was the Gateau St. Honore challenge in May 2007, the Danish braid in June 2008, and croissants in January 2007. Of those 3 challenges, I only took part

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-7499869551409962922009-08-27T04:24:00.006-04:002009-10-29T15:01:31.281-04:00

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge is co-hosted by Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella and Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar. They chose Dobos torte. According to Angela and Lorraine, the Dobos torte is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel. It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-46081297785873577732009-08-07T03:20:00.003-04:002009-08-07T03:37:47.501-04:00

The premise behind the monthly event You Want Pies With That is to make a pie based on a given theme. Then everyone who made a pie can vote for their favorite pie and the baker with the most votes gets to host and choose the theme. This month's host Jacque chose the theme "Nuts About Pie". The last of the season's sweet cherries are still available in the markets so I wanted to make a tart with

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-39204891462302310512009-07-27T01:43:00.012-04:002009-10-29T15:11:21.905-04:00

This month's Daring Bakers' hostess Nicole at Sweet Tooth chose chocolate covered marshmallow cookies (aka mallows) and milan cookies from the Food Network website. Both are from pastry chef Gale Gand and are homemade versions of Nabisco's Mallomars and Pepperidge Farm's Milanos. I've never tried Mallomars and didn’t even know about their existence until Harry (played by Billy Crystal)

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-48763502843034684112009-07-06T21:00:00.008-04:002009-07-10T14:43:19.109-04:00

Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake and I had the honor of choosing the theme for this month's You Want Pies With That. We asked the participants to come up with a pie that reminds them of a "Taste of Summer". Summer can conjure up seasonal fruit or carnival foods, but it can also be about sunburns and bored kids. I was one of those bored kids. The concept of over scheduled children driven around by a "

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-21033356881485856082009-06-27T02:51:00.003-04:002009-10-29T15:12:42.627-04:00

Umm, I mean bakewell. Tart that is. Co-hostesses Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar challenged us with a bakewell tart for this month's Daring Bakers' recipe. The history of the bakewell tart is a bit fuzzy. According to Jasmine and Annemarie, today's version of the bakewell tart/pudding typically falls under one of two categories. The first is the

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-52859072368485844152009-06-21T21:59:00.005-04:002009-06-22T03:30:14.428-04:00

I've been spending most of my time on my professional life (aka "the day job") during the last few weeks. The project will be completed within the next few days and I hope to be back to my baking and blogging life very soon after that. I did have time to make cupcakes for a baby shower recently. I made four varieties for the shower. Three were tried and true, but this fourth one, the

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-27821580220697333612009-05-27T03:02:00.004-04:002009-05-27T03:33:53.910-04:00

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge is upon us again. Co-hosts Linda of Make Life Sweeter and Courtney of Coco Cooks chose strudel. They gave us the freedom to fill our strudel with whatever our hearts desired. Their only mandate was that we must make the strudel dough. When the challenge was announced, I was excited as well as apprehensive. Never in my life did I think I would make strudel

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-32900459580388505392009-05-07T02:36:00.005-04:002009-05-18T21:27:53.833-04:00

This month's You Want Pies With That theme "Family Favorite Pie" was chosen by Natalie of Oven Love. She asked us to use a family favorite dessert as the inspiration for our pie or tart. A childhood sweet that I still love to this day is Chinese egg custard tarts aka "dohn-tot". They can be found on dim sum menus and in Chinese bakery cases everywhere. In fact, there is a cafe in New York City

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-20317291557777568312009-04-27T01:22:00.005-04:002009-04-27T01:42:26.088-04:00

Time for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge. Host Jenny of Jenny Bakes presented us with an easy challenge - cheesecake. She gave us the freedom to do any flavor cheesecake and any kind of crust as long as we used the recipe she gave us as the starting point. The recipe comes from Jenny's friend Abbey. Abbey's recipe was very similar to the recipe that I've been using for years. My batter is

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-86670980994644117002009-04-19T17:02:00.004-04:002009-04-19T17:19:05.462-04:00

I'm not posting as often as I would like since I've been extremely busy with work lately. I do apologize and I hope you'll be patient. The craziness at work should settle down in the next five or six weeks. I'm still trying to bake and post for Daring Bakers and YWPWT, but I haven't had much time otherwise. I've dug back into my Flickr archives and found this lovely tart I never posted. The crust

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-80437964999799324302009-04-07T02:11:00.006-04:002009-04-12T19:16:16.268-04:00

This month's You Want Pies With That? hosts Jacque and Natashya chose the theme "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". They asked that we make a pie based on someone famous. It can be inspired by them or something you'd like to serve them if they ever dropped by. Our famous celebrity must be someone who has had more than 15 minutes of fame. So all you reality show hacks can apply elsewhere.

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-9445896034603910692009-03-27T04:14:00.004-04:002009-03-27T04:26:08.778-04:00

When co-hosts Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande announced that March's Daring Bakers' challenge was lasagna, I thought about passing on this one. I don’t usually skip any of the Daring Baker challenges, but lasagna falls outside of what I normally blog about here on Alpineberry (which is mainly pastries, baking and desserts). I admit I have blogged

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com55tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-24211248779511619592009-03-14T03:25:00.004-04:002009-05-14T14:59:20.212-04:00

I've been so busy lately that I've been neglecting my poor little blog. I already missed last month's "You Want Pies With That?" and sadly I couldn't get my act together to participate in this month's event either. I feel particularly bad about it since today is Pi(e) Day (as in 3.14). So I’d like to apologize to my fellow YWPWT participants. I will definitely get back to making pie next month.I

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-77314238278459641902009-02-28T03:20:00.007-05:002009-02-28T04:08:54.341-05:00

Our wonderful co-hosts Dharm and Wendy gave us an easy and delicious flourless chocolate cake recipe called "Chocolate Valentino" for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge, but they also asked us to pair it with a homemade ice cream. Even though the challenge recipe was one of the easiest Daring Bakers' recipes we've had to date, I had to turn to Ben and Jerry for help with the second part of

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-19014320079697614072009-02-23T02:33:00.005-05:002009-02-23T22:52:03.703-05:00

This is the very first chocolate layer cake I've ever made. To me chocolate layer cake is a very "American" cake. The kind of cake grandmothers all over the country have made using family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. I imagine that every family has their own version. But my family doesn’t since my parents are immigrants and I am a first generation American.

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-51349088722266856662009-02-09T02:34:00.007-05:002009-02-10T19:03:36.104-05:00

Valentine's Day and chocolate seem to go hand in hand. But during the past few years I associated Valentine's Day with red velvet cake too. It must have something to do with the red. So when I saw Angela combine the two into a "kiss" I knew exactly what I would be making this weekend. It's such a cute idea to make red velvet cake kisses covered with chocolate. (For those who don't know, they are

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-26511429236505532872009-01-29T02:58:00.003-05:002009-01-29T03:06:33.229-05:00

For January's Daring Bakers' challenge, hostesses Karen (aka Baking Soda) of Bake My Day! and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte inspired us to do something light. And what could be lighter than tuiles? Tuiles are wafer thin butter cookies. Our only requirements for this challenge were to make at least one of the tuile recipes they provided us (vanilla, chocolate, nougatine, or savory), shape it any way

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-25787636634203111282009-01-19T16:34:00.002-05:002009-01-19T16:41:57.694-05:00

I had some Oreo cookies leftover from making my chocolate espresso praline tart so I decided to use them up by making a cookies and cream cupcake. I saw a lot of recipes on the internet using cake mix to make the cupcakes but I don’t like the taste of cakes made with cake mix. So I used a simple vanilla cupcake recipe and added some crushed Oreo cookies to the batter. The cupcakes turned out nice

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-17481007908071848612009-01-12T01:17:00.004-05:002009-01-12T02:45:23.157-05:00

Almond and lemon are two great flavors that come together in this amazing cake. I first made this flavorful almond lemon tea cake over 15 years ago and it's become one of my most cherished recipes. The recipe is from Flo Braker's "The Simple Art of Perfect Baking". So imagine my surprise when I found a similar cake being sold at Tartine Bakery (for $3/slice). I ran home and I checked my Tartine

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-8507985509892063242009-01-04T20:30:00.004-05:002009-01-06T03:36:36.442-05:00

I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. I hope the holidays were good to you and your family. Like many people do each year, I made some New Year's resolutions. In addition to the usual stuff like exercise more, eat healthier, spend less, save more, I have a couple resolutions that are not so usual.Stop buying shoes. I just counted and I have 34 pairs of shoes. Thirty four may not seem

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-60540686826919513152008-12-28T03:22:00.016-05:002008-12-30T04:15:19.944-05:00

...by any other name would taste as sweet.I hope everyone had a nice holiday. My husband and I have been "celebrating" non-stop since the week before Christmas. From the holiday potluck at the office to the annual winter solstice dinner ("tong yuan") at my parents' house and now the Christmas parties, I feel like I've been eating non-stop. And we still have 2 more holiday events to attend before

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-60027049451397476182008-12-15T03:37:00.001-05:002008-12-15T03:38:58.904-05:00

This almost flourless chocolate cake is the simplest dessert to make for the holidays. There's no layering, filling or frosting. No chilling or rolling. It's just pure chocolatey goodness in an easy single layer cake. The recipe is from the very talented writer and baker, Fran Gage. Since it was printed in the local newspaper a couple years ago I've made it numerous times and it's always a crowd

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-32173175756888242822008-12-08T04:06:00.003-05:002008-12-08T04:16:24.033-05:00

I've mentioned my love of pumpkin before and pumpkin pie is a great way to enjoy it. But pumpkin pie isn’t just for Thanksgiving, is it? I like baking pumpkin pies all year round, but mostly from Halloween through the New Year. Especially when it's combined with aromatic spices. In addition to the usual cinnamon, I always like a healthy dose of ground ginger in my pie. This pumpkin pie was on the

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-69348224573730802712008-12-03T02:25:00.003-05:002008-12-04T20:30:08.062-05:00

The lovely Anne Strawberry is hosting this month's You Want Pies With That?. The premise behind YWPWT is to make a pie (or anything pie-ish like a tart) inspired by the chosen theme. Then everyone who made a pie can vote for their favorite pie and the baker with the most votes gets to host and choose the theme the following month. Anne Strawberry asked us to make a pie inspired by our favorite

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-82470002877383942702008-11-29T00:21:00.004-05:002008-11-29T00:45:56.263-05:00

I have to admit that when hosts Dolores of Culinary Curiosity, Alex of Blondie and Brownie and Jenny of Foray into Food announced that November's Daring Bakers' challenge recipe was caramel cake with caramel frosting I was not thrilled. I don’t like caramel and I will begrudgingly eat it only if it's combined with chocolate. But I always try the recipes for the DB challenges and I wasn't going to

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-83943705493796485732008-11-24T03:58:00.003-05:002008-11-24T04:03:00.814-05:00

Peanut butter. Toffee peanuts. Fleur de sel. My co-workers told me these salted peanut butter toffee cookies were insanely delicious. Need I say more?Salted Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies(adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich)(makes about 50 cookies)1 1/3 cups (6 ounces) all purpose flour1/2 tsp baking soda1 tsp coarse sea salt (like fleur de sel)4 ounces (8 tbsp/1 stick) unsalted butter,

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-61309649744145207592008-11-17T03:13:00.006-05:002008-11-17T03:31:12.203-05:00

Don't be jealous. San Francisco experienced record high temperatures this weekend. It was 80F on Saturday. I know it's mid-November and Thanksgiving is right around the corner but apparently no one told Mother Nature. It was the most gorgeous and sunny weekend and I had no inclination to bake or cook. Thank goodness for delicious takeout from my favorite Thai restaurant. So I'm digging into my

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-7572427209449097392008-11-10T00:44:00.005-05:002008-11-10T01:02:18.608-05:00

Sometimes I can't decide between vanilla crème brulee and a chocolate tart for dessert. For some strange reason, if both are on a dessert menu and nothing else strikes my fancy, then it usually comes down to those two items (both of which I like equally). If I'm dining with companions who like to have dessert after dinner and are the type of people who like to share dessert, then maybe I would

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-41723983455836442782008-11-03T03:09:00.003-05:002008-11-10T00:44:16.439-05:00

Susie of She's Becoming DoughMesstic started a new pie-themed event last month called You Want Pies With That?. I wanted to join the fun last month, but I couldn’t get my act together in time. So I vowed to join the pie making for November. The premise behind the event is to make a pie based on the chosen theme. Then everyone who made a pie can vote for their favorite pie and the baker with the

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-10287258610325677152008-10-29T02:37:00.007-04:002008-12-11T21:23:05.140-05:00

Hostess Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums gave us a most delicious recipe for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge - pizza dough from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. There was nothing too difficult except that this pizza dough was wetter and stickier than other pizza dough recipes I've tried. I'm not sure the reasoning behind the high ratio of water to flour, but I'm sure Mr. Reinhart

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-66242390333301295802008-10-26T16:45:00.004-04:002008-10-27T17:41:41.372-04:00

One of my favorite bloggers Anita of Dessert First is hosting this month's Sugar High Friday event. Sugar High Friday was created by The Domestic Goddess Jennifer to celebrate all things sweet. Anita chose "Spices" as the theme for this round since it's the perfect time for the cozy warmth that spices provide as the autumn chill surrounds us. I've wanted to post about this all-in-one holiday

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-17246659797532313782008-10-20T04:01:00.002-04:002008-10-20T04:15:05.027-04:00

My brother Rich asked me to make him a coconut cake after seeing Bobby Flay "throwdown" with Robert Carter from the Peninsula Grill. Apparently coconut cake is one of Rich's favorite cakes, a fact I never knew despite having lived under the same roof for a quarter of a century. Rich looked into ordering a cake from the Peninsula Grill, but the cake costs $100 and overnight shipping from South

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-46002857312391707662008-10-12T15:13:00.004-04:002012-01-17T14:36:14.022-05:00

I can’t believe I'm doing another cupcake post, but I had to share these with you. Once again, it's nothing fancy, just a devil's food cupcake with basic chocolate frosting. Throw in some dirt (crushed chocolate wafers), tombstones (shortbread) and cute little ghosts (marshmallows) and you have a delightful treat not only for the kids but the adults too. I know it's a little kitschy, but that's

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-60156113839242441352008-10-08T02:47:00.003-04:002008-10-08T03:04:34.156-04:00

I've been seeing a lot of chatter lately about the cupcake trend coming to an end. But in my humble opinion, cupcakes, in general, have been around for decades and will still be around for many decades to come. Whether or not all those boutique cupcake shops and cupcakeries will still be around is another story. Some say that the new trend is fro-yo. But didn't frozen yogurt already have its time

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-33628103352412879252008-10-04T03:12:00.001-04:002008-10-04T03:15:32.559-04:00

No summer is complete unless I make my summer fruit torte at least once. This year my summer torte came a bit late. So I guess it's really more of an autumn fruit torte. But it just goes to show the versatility of this recipe. Black Mission figs were looking good at the farmers' market so we bought more than we could eat. I had a handful of figs that were a bit wrinkly and were just past their

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-34327329673040754592008-09-29T16:17:00.002-04:002008-09-29T16:25:07.429-04:00

Operation Baking GALS (Give A Little Support) was started by fellow Daring Baker Susan of She's Becoming Doughmesstic back in July. She wanted to send some homemade baked goods to her cousin stationed in Iraq and asked for some volunteers to help her out. Little did she know the positive response she would receive from friends, family and fellow bloggers. So she decided to make this monthly

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-36829593786128768592008-09-27T01:21:00.009-04:002008-09-27T02:07:12.718-04:00

This month's Daring Baker challenge is a milestone. Natalie from Gluten A Go Go and Shel from Musings From the Fishbowl chose lavash crackers for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge and for the first time in DB history, we are going vegan for the challenge. They even included a recipe for gluten-free lavash if we wanted it to be both vegan and gluten-free. They also asked us to make a dip or

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-13242223967536921352008-09-22T02:46:00.006-04:002008-09-22T13:02:26.995-04:00

Campton Place Hotel is a boutique luxury hotel in San Francisco. My senior prom date was quite the foodie and he took me to the restaurant in the hotel for dinner before the prom. This was 20 years ago so I'm not sure if foodie was even a word back then. Looking back, my prom date was pretty sophisticated for an eighteen year old. Campton Place was on his list of must try restaurants. It was my

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-19520949153635010222008-09-16T04:06:00.006-04:002008-09-16T04:27:38.803-04:00

Mid-autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. This year it fell on September 14th. My mom likes to celebrate the Mid-autumn festival by cooking an elaborate 9 course meal for the family. She varies the menu from year to year, but we always end the meal with moon cakes. Moon cakes are made with a pastry crust and filled

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-81476267794140993382008-09-08T19:55:00.004-04:002008-09-10T15:35:39.289-04:00

A heat wave descended upon San Francisco and the rest of the SF Bay Area earlier this week. That could only mean one thing…our "summer" was finally here. San Francisco's summer weather is best in late August / early September (aka Indian summer). It always seemed to coincide with back to school time which makes sense since we always went back to school the day after Labor Day which is in the

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-90840062864054830622008-08-31T00:01:00.000-04:002008-08-31T00:03:38.970-04:00

I wasn't sure if I would start blogging again. I've had a lot of time for serious reflection during my blog hiatus. While the situation in my personal life has weighed heavily on me the last few months, I've also learned what's truly important to me. It's like the fog is finally burning off and revealing clear skies.The first weeks were pretty bad. I cried almost everyday. I truly hated my body

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-16278839550003119052008-05-24T14:51:00.000-04:002008-08-29T02:23:00.596-04:00

Dear Kind Readers,I wish this post was about my beloved KitchenAid stand mixer, but unfortunately it's not. With a heavy heart I must take a little hiatus from blogging. I haven't had much time to bake lately. There are some matters that require my full attention and I need some time to sort it all out. I hope to eventually return, but it's hard to say what else life will throw at me. Thanks so

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com62tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-48887090255614212172008-05-14T04:19:00.000-04:002008-05-14T04:33:23.802-04:00

Pudding cakes are, as the name implies, cake and pudding together. But you don't make the cake and the pudding separately and then combine the two. No, you actually make one batter and, through the magic of science, the batter separates as it bakes and you get two distinct layers in one cup: cake on top with pudding on the bottom. It's like a self-saucing cake! I'm not entirely sure how it works

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-76819931318439705342008-05-04T03:00:00.000-04:002008-08-06T16:09:00.940-04:00

People who know me know that I never use boxed cake mix to make cakes. I am definitely a cake from scratch girl. And although I don't use them to make cakes or cupcakes, I do use boxed cake mix to make "crust" for two recipes. The first recipe is something we like to call "that pumpkin thing". I guess its official name is pecan pumpkin pie. I got that recipe from a restaurant on West Portal

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-49687478417237806172008-04-27T03:00:00.000-04:002008-04-27T03:15:35.409-04:00

I don't really like cheesecake. There, I said it. I'm just not a fan of cream cheese especially when it's the star of the dish like with cheesecake. But even so, I make cheesecake pretty often since everyone else seems to love cheesecake. Also, cheesecake is one of those easy-to-make-little-effort-big-wow-factor desserts. I'm always a big fan of easy, especially lately as I've been too lazy to

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com65tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-13497192862791990242008-04-13T20:30:00.002-04:002009-06-16T02:27:01.756-04:00

When my dear husband found out that I was using leftover Easter candy to make something called Snickers pie for tonight's baking session, he asked "Isn't that a bit Sandra Lee"? (For those who haven't heard of Sandra Lee ["SL"], she has a show on the Food Network called "Semi-Homemade Cooking" although I think they use the word "homemade" loosely.) So to someone like me who actually cooks and

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com51tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-17185179087234771392008-03-30T23:32:00.000-04:002008-03-31T01:46:09.568-04:00

The last couple weeks have been the busiest I've been at work in a very long time. I mean, I'm always fairly busy and I never have enough time or staff to finish everything, but we had a deadline to meet and a product to launch. In addition, our company was in the process of moving from one office building to another. Even though our new office is a million times better than our old office, my

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com73tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-11234547970391252072008-03-16T20:32:00.000-04:002008-03-16T20:49:16.993-04:00

A nearby tea shop was having a sale on matcha (green tea powder) so I bought a 100 gram container to try for baking. I figured that if I didn't like baking with it then I would just chalk the whole thing up to experience (it only cost $8). Matcha may not be everybody's cup of tea (yes, pun intended). It could be too bitter for some or too earthy for others. But if you love green tea ice cream,

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-81699658539731606432008-03-10T03:08:00.000-04:002008-03-10T03:27:58.746-04:00

I've been a member of Costco for a long time now. For those unfamiliar, Costco is a membership warehouse club chain. When I joined in 1990, the company was in the pre-merger days and called Price Club. Although I was not a small business owner, Costco still appealed to me. My college roommates and I would drive from Davis to Sacramento to do some bulk shopping. We could buy toilet paper, giant

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-29264968699047351572008-02-29T21:31:00.000-05:002008-03-10T02:28:52.086-04:00

...and not a stick of butter or cup of sugar in sight!I've been a Daring Baker for over a year now. When I first joined we were a group of only 10 bakers and we didn't have an official name. Now there are almost 600 members plus another 100 joining next month. Who are the Daring Bakers? We're a group of food bloggers who, once a month, make the exact same recipe and then blog about our experience

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-12706496228178255402008-02-24T17:58:00.000-05:002008-02-24T18:06:57.882-05:00

I seem to use more egg yolks than egg whites when baking so I always have egg whites left over. Thankfully egg whites can be frozen for up to 3 months. One large egg white is equal to 35 ml (2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) so I like to portion and freeze them in ice cube trays, pop out the frozen cubes, and then store them in a plastic freezer bag. These individual portions can be thawed fairly

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-64212182797066164072008-02-18T15:52:00.000-05:002008-02-20T14:47:49.237-05:00

My mom believes that a cookie without chocolate is always better for you than one that contains chocolate. I don't know where she got that idea, but I learned long ago not to argue with her on this point (as well as many other points). Anyways, she likes these oatmeal coconut walnut cookies and doesn't mind if my niece and nephews have more than one cookie at a time. As the name implies, these

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-25293912185660704512008-02-05T02:48:00.000-05:002008-02-05T03:29:21.656-05:00

The first time I made these hazelnut sandwich cookies was during the holidays for our extended family Christmas party. I used a fluted round cookie cutter and then made tiny cut-outs in the top cookie using very small cookie cutters in the shape of a Christmas tree, candy cane and star. The small cut-out (less than 1 cm) gave just a glimpse of the shiny raspberry jam sandwiched between the

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-57935848317406825652008-01-28T03:39:00.000-05:002008-01-28T03:55:20.835-05:00

Another month has come and gone so it's time for another installment of the Daring Baker challenge. Not familiar with the Daring Bakers? Well, we're a group of food bloggers who, once a month, make the exact same recipe and then blog about our experience with the recipe. Whether the experience is good, bad or somewhere in between, I always learn something new. A different baker plays host each

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com80tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-66659409663155556622008-01-15T21:08:00.000-05:002008-01-15T21:22:02.818-05:00

I don't have much to say about this cherry streusel pound cake except that I received rave reviews and multiple requests for the recipe. It's surprising that everyone liked it so much since I thought it was just okay. Shows you how much I know! I adapted the recipe from Carolyn Weil in Fine Cooking magazine so I can't take full credit for the success. The original recipe called for dried

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-34796087262026901272008-01-07T03:20:00.000-05:002008-01-07T03:32:07.572-05:00

Okay, I think it's official. I am going through baker burn out. I know it's not very "daring" to admit it (I am a Daring Baker after all), but I'm really exhausted from all the baking that I did during the holidays. Although I love baking and it's definitely my favorite hobby, it almost felt like a chore during the holidays. Of course it was a totally self-imposed task. No one asked me to bake as

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-27340358999191575102007-12-22T03:39:00.000-05:002007-12-22T03:52:09.636-05:00

The Daring Bakers are making some noise with this month's challenge. Keeping the holiday season in mind, the founders of the Daring Bakers, Ivonne and Lisa, chose a holiday inspired recipe. The yule log (which is also known as Bûche de Noël) is a genoise filled with buttercream and rolled up to form a log shaped cake. Then it's frosted and decorated to look like a log. It's a strange concept to

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com64tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-70932515497497853622007-12-18T03:21:00.000-05:002007-12-18T03:48:02.407-05:00

Last week I spent most of my evenings making cookie dough and baking dozens and dozens of cookies to give to my office mates and those in my husband's office too. For some reason I wanted everyone to have a variety to choose from so I made 6 different cookies this year. And I wanted my cookies to be as fresh as possible so I baked them over the course of 2 nights with the intention of passing

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25166907.post-28781695883214289842007-12-09T03:54:00.000-05:002007-12-09T04:04:48.207-05:00

Pecan pie is a fairly sweet pie and rightly so. But I don't like pecan pie when it's overly sweet. I know that "overly sweet" is subjective, but I wanted to craft this recipe to my family's tastes. Instead of using one cup (8 fluid ounces) of corn syrup (which is the amount that most recipes for a 9-inch pie seem to require), I cut back on the corn syrup and I even replaced some volume with maple

Alpineberry Maryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448135263567669051noreply@blogger.com26