It's a Wunderful Life http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com Adventures in Baking posterous.com Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:17:00 -0700 Recession Pancakes http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com/recession-pancakes http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com/recession-pancakes

Hellooo Everyone!

Believe it or not, I'm still frequently baking and creating in my shoebox kitchen.  Yesterday, I was inspired to make pancakes to avoid watching football treat LMJ to a Sunday feast :)  I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and saved a few bucks as well as a trip to the store in my pajamas (standard San Francisco wear). I wanted to share even though it's not my own so everyone has an easy one on hand!

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

1. Mix flour, salt and baking powder together.  The original recipe calls for sifting of these, but whisking for a few minutes works just fine.  

2. Melt the butter to liquid in the microwave, and put the milk in for about 30-40 seconds to bring it to room temperature. It's preferable if the egg has set to room temp as well.  I beat the egg, and added the milk, plus a 1/4 teaspoon of Vanilla and mixed these all together.

3. Pour your egg mixture in the middle of the the dry mix and stir until smooth, then pour onto heated griddle/pan.  

 

Yay! I know we all love pancakes, and quite frankly I've spent the last 26 years thinking I needed a mix just to enjoy them at home, so no more :)

 

Happy Indian Summer everyone! 

 

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1005298/photo.jpg http://posterous.com/users/he6CjM50QeMKm Sarah Wunderlich itsawunderfullife Sarah Wunderlich
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:33:00 -0800 Back in Action! http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com/back-in-action http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com/back-in-action

After spending the past week fairly certain my life was coming to an end all too early, I've finally regained my health and recovered from the Flu.  There is nothing like a fever to remind you how much you should value your health!  Luckily I had LMJ to take care of me, otherwise I surely would've withered away :)

When yesterday rolled around, I figured it was time to bake another yummy treat, but I knew I wanted to do something easy.  I was in no place to make frosting, or spend my afternoon contemplating the perfect frosting tip.  I also wanted to do something with the ingredients I had in the house, which led me to:

SNICKERDOODLES!

Snickerdoodles are an easy treat beacause more likely than not, you will be able to find everything you need in your kitchen right now!  The only exception may be the Cream of Tartar.  Cream of Tartar is something I use probably four times a year maximum, so I personally reccomend buying it, as you'll hold onto it forever. 

Now on to the fun:

Ingreidents:

Ingrd

  • cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • large eggs
  • 2 3/4 cups flour
  • teaspoons cream of tartar
  • teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • tablespoons sugar
  • teaspoons cinnamon

  •  

  • 1 Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • 2 Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.
  • 3 Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
  • 4 Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.
  • 5 Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.
  • 6 Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.
  • 7 Scoop 1 inch globs of dough into the sugar/ cinnamon mixture.
  • 8 Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture.
  • 9 Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes.
  • 10 Remove from pan immediately.
  • Yum! simple and easy, but one would never know from the taste-SO GOOD!!

    It took me 10 minutes to set up and 10 minutes to cook them.  Also, another helpful hint is to melt the butter almost completely so that when you mix in the sugar, you get a nice creamy texture to mix the flour mixture with, especially if you're making these by hand:

    Consistency
    Topping

    My legal Team aka my older brother has reccomended I get a new camera, so hopefully this will be my last post with these low quality iPhone pics, but I must work with what I have! :) 

     

    Yummy

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    http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1005298/photo.jpg http://posterous.com/users/he6CjM50QeMKm Sarah Wunderlich itsawunderfullife Sarah Wunderlich
    Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:47:00 -0800 Happy Valentines Day!! http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com/happy-valentines-day http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com/happy-valentines-day

    Hellooo Everyone! Happy Heart Day!  This has always been one of my favorite holidays because my mom made it so special when we were young! Not only did she surprise us with chocolates and treats, but she would always cook an all "pink" dinner, and take the time to dye the biscuts, pasta, even the apples in the salad bright pink!  It's always made today extra special and it makes it so much more than a "Hallmark Holiday", (to which I'd like to respond, which holiday ISN'T???) .

    Anyway!  For today I decided to do something a little fancy for LMJ.  I borrowed a recipe from one of my favorite inspirational baking blogs, www.annieeats.com, and decided I would give it a go!  A note about these treats...they are mainly for looks, Not sure if anyone out here has ever had a whoopie pie, but its main taste is similar to air..hence the name whoopie I guess?  The frosting helps though!  It's a very rich cream cheese frosting, yum yum!  So you start out by tracing hearts (from card stock, cookie cutters, etc) on parchment paper.  Then you take your batter and pipe it into the hearts, leaving enough room for expansion of the cookies. Use your biggest piping tip for this:

     

    Process

    After you fill in the cookies with ther remaining batter, place in the oven at 375 degrees for no more than 8 minutes. You want to make sure you watch these VERY carefully in the oven, like I said earlier, there is not too much to the batter and so they burn very quickly (lets just say I had a mishap with batch one...).  When you take them out its important to let them cool for at least 10 minutes, or until they are entirely cold so that the thick frosting doesnt mess up the soft cookie!  Next, pair the cookies together and sandwich them into little heart shaped treats and enjoy your reward!

    Sideview
    Topview

    And here is what LMJ awoke to on Valentine's morning :)

    Finished

     

    HAPPY DAY TO ALL THE LOVERS!!!

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    http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1005298/photo.jpg http://posterous.com/users/he6CjM50QeMKm Sarah Wunderlich itsawunderfullife Sarah Wunderlich
    Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:33:00 -0800 RENO 911 http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com/reno-911 http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com/reno-911

    Well, the bday weekend went perfectly in RENO!  Reno is kind of like an intense dive bar you can't escape; there are so many characters and the only way to keep it entertaining is to keep a cocktail in hand!  I made LMJ's bday cupcakes on Friday and they turned out great!  I ended up having to make my own frostings with food coloring.  Turns out no matter how much green you use, its really hard to get a dark green like I had imagined, but the moss green and light yellow still looked great!  

    Photo
    I can't even begin to plan my next baking venture in this state of mind!  I must say, Reno knows how to keep the wives and girlfriends busy: Sex and The City Slot machines that play clips of the show between spins=UH MAZ ING.  Loved it.  Probably help that I won on a "Mr. Big" Special" Spin! 
    Photo_2
    All in all, It was a great weekend and I'm happy with the way the cupcakes turned out!  Love you LMJ!

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    http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1005298/photo.jpg http://posterous.com/users/he6CjM50QeMKm Sarah Wunderlich itsawunderfullife Sarah Wunderlich
    Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:45:00 -0800 Theme Dreams http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com/theme-dreams http://itsawunderfullife.posterous.com/theme-dreams

    So it's clear this blog is not gonna get off the ground if I don't get a theme going..maybe I can start with a baby theme and work my way up from there?  For this week I've decided on: BAKING.  LMJ's bday is on Monday and I will be doing some serious baking for this monumental event! He's turning 27, but one would never know, since he has requested FUNFETTI for his birthday cake.  I've decided to make funfetti cupcakes with white Frosting and Green O's to represent his real love, the Oregon Ducks (PAC 10 CHAMPS!), I'm imagining them turning out just like this, but in cupcake form:

    Normal_1291595247
    Nothing will ever top the football cake I made our first year together, dont throw all your eggs in one cake basket early on you guys!  Okay so now we have a plan, and a semi-theme and I will post my results as soon as they're done!  

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    http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1005298/photo.jpg http://posterous.com/users/he6CjM50QeMKm Sarah Wunderlich itsawunderfullife Sarah Wunderlich