Sunday, November 16, 2014

Lazy Sunday With Baking Project Updates!

It has been COLD in New Orleans this past week. And I say that relatively speaking. You people who live in the north would laugh at my teeth chattering with temperatures in the 30s. The lows for Tuesday are in the TWENTIES. I don't think we got into the twenties all year last winter and it's only November! But I'm not complaining. I'll take the cold any day over the heat. Today it's overcast and it's supposed to start storming any minute now which I'm fine with. I love stormy days off of work where I can just read all night and be a bum :) My day would've been much better had the Saints not looked like complete shit as they have all season though :/

I woke up today to a tweet from Dorie Greenspan! Yes, Dorie Greenspan tweeted me! I've been working my way through her new cookbook, Baking Chez Moi, which is amazing and my new favorite cookbook and I got a compliment of "Nice!" on my custardy apple squares. For those wondering, they are beyond nice, they are amazing! Here's a picture of them:


They are such a simple recipe to make too. Dorie describes them as her "back pocket recipe". I can see myself making these over and over and over again. I sliced the apples thin and then you toss them in a batter that you make with eggs, sugar, flour, milk, butter and vanilla and pour that all into a dish and bake and you get this amazing....custardy treat. Almost like a bread pudding with apples. Next time I may add some raisins and cinnamon. I used almond milk and it came out perfect.

Last week, I made her Plain and Simple Almond Cake. Added bonus, this cake is gluten and dairy free! So it's good to know I have a recipe like that if the occasion ever calls for it. This cake is made with almond meal/flour and not much sugar for the size of the cake, so it's not super sweet for those who like dessert but don't like their dessert on the super sweet side. Think ACTUAL almonds, not almond flavoring. You make a meringue with the egg whites and fold it into the batter to make a fluffy batter though the cake isn't exceptionally fluffy. I cut it in half and put a layer of raspberry jam in the middle and I'm glad I did otherwise it would've been too bland for me. I like my desserts sweet :p And then dust it with powdered sugar! DELISH!


I haven't been up to much else aside from baking. My reading has still been crap. I did finish the audio of Amy Poehler's, Yes Please and absolutely LOVED it! That was no surprise. I adore Amy Poehler and her book was the perfect mix of humor, biography, memoir, life lessons and entertainment. In my opinion, the audio is definitely the way to go if you're going to read that one! It's  a true production and one of the best audio books I've listened to with appearances by Carol Burnett, Kathleen Turner, Patrick Stewart and Seth Meyers just to name a few. I'm in the middle of about 100 different books right now. I think I'm going to go back to The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer today...really enjoying that one!

Hope everyone else is having a good weekend!!

8 comments:

DesLily said...

man, I feel the pounds coming on just looking at your pictures!

my reading sucked this year.. I won't even wind up with enough to be one a week! I will admit I had more health issues which made my depression worse and all I wanted to do was sleep for a long time.

I think I am coming out of that now... and I thank the Blue Angels for that. There was an air show in Vero in the summer and the Blue Angel jets were all over the place, practicing. It was the first time I "looked forward" to the next day in months. I hope some day to see them again.

Anyway... everything looks too yummy! one piece of anything good is never enough for me so I'm glad we don't live next door to each other!! xoxoxo

Anonymous said...

What! Nuh-uh, it was freezing last year! Remember? It was so cold? We got ice? I rolled down my car window, and the sheet of ice that coated it stayed up. Polar vortex was last year!

Either way, it's too cold here now. I wouldn't mind, except that I appear to be allergic to my heating system (or the dust that's accumulated in it since last year), and I can EITHER be warm OR have a functioning nose, but not both.

Beth F said...

I expect treats next time I'm in NOLA!!

Bookfool said...

Mmm, the food looks awesome.

Very cool about the tweet!

Bookfool said...

Also, the cold . . . wahoo!!!!!

Kristen M. said...

I'm so happy that it warmed back up here. We had mornings in the 20s last week but this morning it was like 47. Whew. It's also raining now though and will be through next Weds but I'll take that trade-off!
So, your custardy apple squares did not excite me UNTIL you said they were almost like a bread pudding ... mmm. Now I definitely want to try making this!

Susan said...

Yum. You're making me hungry! I'm so happy you are having fun baking. Sometimes it's magic making something from a few ingredients, isn't it? Wish we could all have a piece of your results! lol

My reading isn't any better since Oct 22. The mind is a funny thing....maybe you are needing something physical to do, to take your mind off what happens at work. I know I do after a day of work, walking or gardening is such good physical settling back (or down) to earth. Cooking too!

We love Amy Poehler too, so I've been eying that for my husband for Christmas. I wonder if he'd enjoy audio?

jilllora said...

Your Sunday baking posts give me the munchies!