Daring Bakers’ July Challenge

July's Daring Bakers' Challenge was a Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream chosen by Chris of Mele Cotte. I'm not crazy about nuts, so I decided to do as many others are doing and used up the almond flour left over from the opera cake. I used orange juice and orange marmalade for the glaze. My opera cake didn't rise much and I don't really like buttercream, so I decided not to use a 10 inch pan and cut it into 3 layers, and just used two 9 inch pans and baked it just until it started to pull away from the sides of the pan and was springy on top, about 18 minutes - which was maybe a little too long.


I had a lot of trouble with this cake. I usually use parchment, but since the recipe didn't call for it, I just used grease and flour, and my cakes stuck to the pan. Not just a little stuck, like I've sometimes felt in the past, where you know it is stuck in just one place, this cake felt absolutely stuck to the pan everywhere. At first I considered cutting it up and using it for trifle, but then I decided to see if I could cut it in half and salvage it. Considering how stuck it was, it came out pretty good.

After that disaster, the buttercream came together well, and my ganache was great, but when I took the buttercream out of the fridge after putting on the ganache, it had almost turned to butter. I tried whipping it, but it didn't seemed to help, so I thought I could warm it a bit in the microwave, which just turned it into soft butter. So I melted it, added powdered sugar and piped it on the cake.


It looked much prettier uncut when I could hide all my mistakes with frosting. I liked the combination of orange and chocolate ganache, but I prefer a moist cake and wouldn't make this one again. But it was definitely a learning experience! Thanks to my kind neighbor for sharing the cake with us.

A Smile Award

Thanks to Jenny at Picky Palate who gave me a nice award - The Smile Award! If you haven't visited her blog, you should, because she has great recipes and always makes me smile.

Characteristics for the Smile Award:
1. Must display a cheerful attitude. (not necessarily at all times--we are all human)
2. Must love one another
3. Must make mistakes
4. Must learn from others
5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world
6. Must love life
7. Must love kids

These are the rules:
1. The recipient must link back to the award's creator (http://www.thebabblingsofmere.blogspot.com/)
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.
3. You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award, as posted by Mere.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.

And now I get to give the award to 5 of my favorite bloggers...

Megans Cookin her trip pictures and fun smore recipe definitely made me smile this week.

Stephanie has a fun blog that makes me smile Fun Foods on a Budget. I remember those early days in my marriage. My daughter's getting married in September and I'm sure she'll need some tips on eating well inexpensively.

Jaime at Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats has a blog about sweet treats, how could that not make me smile. Especially this morning when I saw the pictures of her delicious cherry rhubarb cobbler.

Joy the Baker posts about creating the perfect chocolate chip cookie made me smile over several days.

Deborah at Taste and Tell. Her post about her new job definitely made me smile. Congratulations and good luck!

Martha Stewart Surprise Cookies

The second recipe I've made from my new Martha Stewart Cookies cookbook are the Surprise Cookies, chocolate cookies with a melted marshmallow under a fudgy frosting. These cookies were absolutely delicious and were a big hit at a recent party. I'll definitely be making these again.

Ingredients (Makes about 2 dozen)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 large marshmallows, cut in half horizontally

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add reserved flour mixture; mix on low speed until combined.
3. Using a tablespoon or 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies begin to spread and become firm, 8 to 10 minutes. (I think next time I'll only bake them 7 minutes)
4. Remove baking sheets from oven, and place a marshmallow, cut-side down, in the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly. Return to oven, and continue baking until marshmallows begins to melt, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
5. Spread about 1 tablespoon of frosting over each marshmallow, starting in the center and continuing outward until marshmallow is covered.

Chocolate Frosting
3 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 t. cocoa powder
1/4 cup plus 2 T. milk
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
1. Place confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in butter and cocoa powder. Add milk and vanilla, and whisk until well combined.

Quick Asian Spinach Salad

I found a great Asian Spinach Salad recipe on This Week for Dinner by Kristy at Table for 7. I rarely make my own salad dressing and Kraft has an Asian Sesame dressing that we really like, so I change the recipe to make it super quick and easy using the bottled dressing and rotisserie chicken. It was a big hit with my family.

Quick Asian Spinach Salad
1 small bag of spinach
12 oz. bowtie pasta (cook, strained, cooled)
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup matchstick carrots
2 cups chopped rotisserie chicken

Toss all ingredients together, serve with Asian Toasted Sesame dressing, top with sesame seeds.

Spaghetti Squash with Quick Pasta Sauce

One of my favorite no carb dishes is roasted spaghetti squash. I've tried steaming it and microwaving it, but the recipe in Everyday Foods is the best! The problem I've had in the past with spaghetti squash was it was always too crunchy, but not with roasting, it turns out perfect. Top it with a quick healthy pasta sauce, add a tossed salad and you have a healthy, delicious, low calorie meal.

Spaghetti Squash with Garlic

1 spaghetti squash (2 pounds)
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, slivered
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400°. With a fork, prick squash in several places. Place on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until soft to the touch, about 1 hour.

When cool enough to handle, halve squash crosswise. Scoop out seeds; discard. Scrape flesh into strands. (Drain if necessary)

In a large skillet, heat oil over low heat. Add garlic; cook until fragrant and just starting to color, about 5 minutes. Add squash; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until squash is very hot, about 5 minutes.

Serves 4 Prep time: 15 minutes Total time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Per serving: 166 calories; 7.8 grams fat; 2.6 grams protein; 25,4 grams carbohydrates; 5.4 grams fiber

This pasta sauce is a quicker version of the Cook's Illustrated Simple Tomato Sauce. I think it's great!

Quick Pasta Sauce

28 oz. can of crused tomatoes in rich puree (I love this S&W brand)
1 1/2 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried basil
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
1/4 t. salt

Heat all ingredients in a sauce pan on medium heat until hot.

4th of July Chocolate Cookie Cutouts

Happy 4th of July! For Mother's Day I received Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook. I told the kids I thought we should bake one cookie a week. Unfortunately, this is the first cookie we've tried from the cookbook and it's been two months. The cookies were beautiful, but not a favorite. I guess we'll just have to bake more cookies! Hope everyone had a great day!