Brisket

Brisket...one of those words that I absolutely should not type when my stomach is growling.  It's only been about a year since I've known the glory that is brisket, but let me reassure you, I think I have come very close to mastering it.  I know Herbie and I had a pretty solid relationship before I cooked it for him, but after he found out I could make it taste almost as awesome as his mother's, it was true true love!

I can't give you the recipe because I swore to take it to the grave with me when Herbie's mom gave it to me.  Ok, maybe not, but I still do want to keep some recipes sacred and that's one of those recipes.

If you've never had good jewish brisket, you are indeed missing out.  I feel very very sorry for you.

I really don't feel that the picture does it much justice, but trust me..... it's so amazingly good.

Now I think I'll go find something to eat, that of course won't be nearly as awesome as that brisket was.

Cakes!

This is one of my favorite cakes that I've created.  The man that bought this cake at a bake sale and paid $200 for it (it went to charity... I'm not trying to rob you, I promise!) loved it.  In the real world, I would only charge about $35 for this cake!

This is just a sample of some of the cakes I can make.  I can do different colors and can even do chocolate fondant if you'd like.

Cake flavors are endless, but some of my favorites are strawberry, raspberry, strawberry lemonade, lemon, chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet.

Cookies and Cream

I went to a couple of local cupcake shops around town and they all have their own definition of a cookies and cream cupcake.  One was better than the other.  They will both remain anonymous, but I will say, you can't hide the horrible dry cupcake by piling it with a ton of icing.  Just sayin'!

I discovered the perfect white cake recipe and kept thinking how awesome it would be to add some crushed oreos to it. 

The church that Herbie works at was having another bakesale, so I sent him to church this morning with 18 jumbo cupcakes, all cookies and cream!

I can't give the recipe, but I will tell you to buy the book Confetti Cakes and you will find the recipe in there.  I just added about a 1/2 cup of crushed oreos to the mix and then about 1/2 cup of crushed oreos to the buttercream icing.  It was DELISH!

Now for the picture:

Wendy Williams

One of my friends, Renee, had a project and a challenge for me, and I took it and ran with it.
I've never really done any kind of crazy decorations for a cake, but I she has a friend that is obsessed with Wendy Williams and it was his birthday, so...you see where this is going.

I did a strawberry lemonade cake, by adding strawberry and lemon icing fruits to the cake batter.  I used Wilton's recipe for Buttercream Icing.  Did a little fondant, and came up with this:

 

How fabulously tacky is that?  It was apparently a big hit.

Grandma's Strawberry Cake

I would have to say that I learned a lot about cooking from my grandma.  She is a lady that has always cooked and made sure that anyone that's ever stepped foot in her house does not leave hungry.

I think my favorite thing that she ever made was her strawberry cake.  It was amazing.  I had strawberry cakes before, but there was nothing ever fake about the flavor of her strawberry cakes.

This recipe, I can, and will share.  Trust me, you want to try this.

Ingredients:
One box of White Cake Mix
box of Strawberry gelatin mix
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, pureed

Icing:

8 oz pkg cream cheese

1/2 stick unsalted butter (real butter,  not that margarine BS!)

1 box powdered sugar

1/2 cup fresh strawberries, pureed

1 tsp vanilla

Make cake by directions on box.  Mix gelatin and fresh strawberries in.  Bake according to directions.

For the icing, cream together butter and cream cheese until creamy.  Mix in powdered sugar.  Mix in vanilla and strawberries.

Let the cake cool for a while, then frost.

It should look something like this:

Asiago Bagels

I guess it's kinda ironic that I make my first post in my dessert blog about Bagels. Not even sweet bagels, actually savory cheesy bagels. I made Asiago Cheese bagels this morning, and I had to share them with you.

Many people are rather afraid of using yeast when it comes to cooking, but I'm here to tell you that there's nothing at all to be afraid of.  I personally have never had bread fall flat on me.  I know sooner or later it may happen, but right now, I haven't had any issues with it at all.

It was a long process.  I had to let the sponge rise.  The directions said for 2 hours, but I was too tired to start working on them last night, so I let it rise overnight.

I got up at an ungodly hour this morning and started working on these.  Below is the result of probably 20 minutes of stirring and kneading. 

After all of the kneading was done, I shaped the bagels.  The recipe says it makes 12 bagels, but next time I will make 24 because they were HUGE!

I have always heard that the secret to good bagels were boil them before you actually baked them.  I boiled the bagels 2-3 at a time in boiling water with a tablespoon of baking soda.  I don't know what the baking soda does, but they turned out very tasty, so I'll keep doing it!

Anyways, after boiling the bagels and while they were still hot, I put more Asiago cheese on top of the bagels so they would be even extra cheesier (is that a word?).  Before baking them, they looked like this: 

I could almost eat these without baking them.  I had quite a hard time resisting the urge to at least eat all of the cheese. I figured for my health though it would be best to cook them and to stop nibbling at the cheese.  So here is finished product:

I would post a picture of myself eating one, but before the camera could even load, I had inhaled one.  For the first time, these were not bad.  I would almost dare to say that they beat panera.  Yeah, I said it.

If you are interested in this recipe, I will share.  I found it over at The Brown Eyed Baker's recipe blog.