The Adventures of a Frustrated Baker

Originally this recipe was going to be joined with my post for the sliders, but with all the pictures I had of those and then all the ones I had for this recipe, I felt that they could each stand on their own.  So the day that I made the sliders I searched all of the whopping two grocery stores we have here in town for slider buns only to be disappointed.  I so badly wanted to use my Williams Sonoma slider press...then it occurred to me, why not make my own buns?  I had seen a recipe on another blog recently that featured hamburger buns...why not give it a try and just make them extra small for sliders?  With that decided, we headed home and  I got to work! I made these on a marathon cooking day...I was making sliders, grilling up one of the monster zucchinis from our garden, making these slider buns and zucchini cupcakes! Yeah, it was a busy day in the kitchen here.  Anyway, the great thing about making breads is that you h...

I just love sliders, don't you?  They are all cute and tiny and if done right you can pack a pretty good wallop of flavor into those teeny tiny 2 bite burgers.  A few weeks ago, we had some beautiful weather in which I decided to make these little gems.  They came to me early in the morning as I was getting up, or maybe they were the remnants of a dream, not sure that it really matters.  All I know is that morning when I woke up and saw the gorgeous sunshine, I decided I had to have sliders with jalapenos and shredded cheese mixed in.  My sister-in-law of course mightily agreed (she's got a thing for everything peppers...) since this sounded like the perfect summer meal on such a perfect summer day. Assemble all of your ingredients and throw them all into a large bowl and mix them together.  Let sit a about half an hour to let the flavors blend. Grab your slider press if you have one, and place down some foil or parchment paper for...

Each year for our family reunion, everyone brings a side dish to share with the family.  I always love Saturday lunch because that is when everyone reveals what they brought for the weekend.  There is always so much to try and so many yummy things!  In case, you hadn't figured it out, mostly our family reunions are about two things, the ring toss tournament and FOOD!!  (Some would probably add wine to that list too...but what can I say, they are Italian! : D)  Anyway, since I was already bringing the cucpakes I decided to go with something simple for my savory side this year and stumbled upon this recipe from Buns In My Oven when looking for sides for my bestie for her BBQ.  I thought it looked delicious and super easy.  And it promised on both counts!  Of course it took me about 15 tomoatoes to get the hang of scooping out all the seeds before it became quick and easy, but now I know and I'll remember it in the future! Sorry about the lack o...

For months I have been contemplating pastries in hippo form.  This year I had promised my daughter and a cousin who both had summer birthdays that I would make a hippo cake for the family reunion.  Of course, the whole family knew and we have been discussing what it would look like since before Easter.  That being said, I had to nix the whole cake idea a couple of days before the reunion cause I just wasn't going to have enough time to put the cake together the day we left with everything else I had to do and my work schedules.  Instead, I made hippo cupcakes and I must say I think they turned out great!  There are a few things I feel I should mention though...be sure to try the batter.  It seemed way to bright to me and not very "red velvety" in color and when I tried it, all I could taste was red food coloring so I added more cocoa.  Also, don't be disturbed by the color of the batter...as long as it tastes good it will be fine! ...

This weekend my baby girl turns 5 and in honor of the occasion I made her a super yummy cake.  She requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and Hello Kitty on top.  Big surprise...so I found a super easy and delicious devil's food cake recipe on the Food Network's website, through together some melted chocolate with some cream and butter to make a fudge filling and crumbled up some Oreos to sprinkle between cake layers.   The complicated part came when I was making the marshmallow fondant for the top of the cake and for the Hello Kitty.  I found a recipe from Wilton for the fondant, which does taste loads better than traditional fondant.  Biggest hints here, use a stand mixer if you've got one and read the comments left on the recipe reviews.  That is a good tip for any recipe, but particularly for this one.  I ran into some issues getting the consistency right, and although it worked out, I think I pro...