Stacey Makes It

So, these muffins were an experiment with olive oil.  Really I wanted to call them olive oil muffins, but even though I used EVOO, you could barely, if at all, taste it.  I suppose that means it was a success?  Perhaps if I want to showcase the olive oil more, I should use more of it, but this was really a test to see if I could start baking desserty type stuff with olive oil versus other types of cooking oils. Olive oil smells and tastes a little nutty to me, so I thought almond meal might go well with that flavor.  Then I happened to have some overripe bananas, so that's how that happened.  And everything tastes good with chocolate chips. I guess if I wanted to give them the title they deserve it would be... Stacey's Banana Chocolate Chip Almond Olive Oil Muffin Ingredients 1 1/2c unbleached white flour, organic 1/2c brown rice flour, organic 1c almond meal/flour 2/3c granulated sugar, organic 1 tbs baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/4 t...

This is a modification of a recipe I found on allrecipes.com for My Amish Friend's Caramel Corn . Stacey's Caramel Popcorn Ingredients : 5-6 quarts plain popped popcorn, organic 2 tbs sunflower oil, organic (for popping) 1-2 tsp salt 2 cups dry roasted almonds, local (optional) 1 cup dark brown sugar, organic, loose and unpacked 1 cup white sugar, organic 1/3 cup light corn syrup, organic 6 tbs butter, organic 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 2 tsp vanilla bean paste First I popped the popcorn in my Whirley-Pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper (which I love for popping popcorn). It took 2 batches to make all the popcorn and I used 1 tablespoon of oil for each batch. Probably 1/3-1/2c of kernels for each round.  Just enough so that 80-90% of the bottom of the pot is covered with kernels with no overlap. Overfilling is bad. Then I preheated the oven to 275F and spread the popcorn and the nuts in a jelly roll pan and a 9x13 metal cake pan lined with foil.  I really wish I had a ...

I'm what you would call a honey junkie.  If there is honey at a farmers' market, 9 times out of 10, I will buy it.  I'm pretty sure all the honey vendors have a picture of me with a caption on it that says, "(Honey) Sucker."  If they give me a sample, I'm pretty much honey in their hands.  The 1 out of 10 times I don't buy it is probably because I don't have enough cash on me and I feel like it's wrong in some way to go home with no produce yet still weighed down by giant glass jars of heaven in syrup form. Let's just say I'm only one dimension away from being a cartoon bear stuck in a tree. I'm already chunky and yellow and enjoy tight T-shirts.  Here is some of my massive honey collection: In case anyone is curious, from top to bottom, left to right: Orange Blossom honey from the Alemany Farmers' Market - yummy and floral in a good way (vs the bad way where it tastes like soap - I'm looking at YOU, disgusting rose candy) ...

For those few of you who have gotten to try these caramels, yes, this is THE caramel recipe. I had debated publishing this recipe, but then I decided that I'm never going to make money via my food creations, and really I want to be an author instead, thus exchanging one impossible dream for another. :)  So, without further ado... Stacey's Caramel Recipe : 1.5c heavy cream, organic 2.25c whole milk, organic 3c sugar, organic 1 vanilla bean 1.5c glucose 3/4 stick (6 tbs) of butter, organic Oiled parchment paper in 7x7" and 10x10" cake pans Candy thermometer First, a WARNING : Caramel takes forever to make.  So be ready to have at least 2 hours to do the first part.  Since I needed extra caramel, this is 1.5x my normal recipe where I would only fill the 10x10" cake pan.  I should also note that you need the really sturdy cake pans that won't warp.  If you use cake pans or jelly roll pans that warp, your caramel is going to be all different thickne...

I made these a while ago, but I'm just getting around to posting the recipe now.  If you remember my Spring Boxes , they were in there. Stacey's Blueberry Cream Truffle Ingredients  5 oz cream Lemon zest from 1 lemon 2 oz glucose 34 oz white chocolate 4 oz lemon juice 1.2 oz freeze dried blueberries, powdered (1 bag tj's) Guittard 64% dark chocolate toasted chopped almonds These are made just like the Lemon Cream Truffles , but I ground up freeze dried blueberries with my mortar and pestle (like in the Strawberry Cream Crunchies recipe), and added that in with the truffle mixture at the same time as the cream and lemon juice. Once the truffles had set the next day, I used my   1-1/8" scooper   to scoop out truffle balls.   Then I rolled these in the palms of my hands until they were smooth. I prepared little piles of toasted almonds which I sliced. I tempered dark chocolate and then used my spiral dipping utensil  to dip the truffle ball...

Thought I'd do a variation of That Chocolate Cake... Stacey's That Almond Cake Ingredients: 2c sugar, organic 1c unbleached white flour, organic 3/4c whole wheat flour, organic 2 tbs cornstarch 3/4c almond flour 1 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 2 eggs, organic 1/2c sesame oil 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 1.5c whole milk (cream top organic) 1/2c boiling water 10x10" cake pan Parchment paper First, I preheated the oven to 350F and lined the cake pan with the parchment paper.  Then, I mixed all the dry ingredients together.  I slightly beat the eggs with the oil, and heated the milk with the vanilla in the microwave for about a minute - temp gun said it was about 90F.  I added the wet ingredients (minus the boiling water) into the dry ingredients and mixed.  Once it was mixed, I added the boiling water and stirred until it was combined.  It was really soupy, but I figured I'd just give it a try.  I poured it into the p...

I had a little get-together to go to on Saturday, so this was my contribution. This was sort of an experiment to see how many almond-type things I could get into a single cake.  I thought about making a whip cream with some amaretto in it too, but I got lazy. Stacey's Almond Mochi Cake Ingredients : 1c brown rice flour 1c almond meal 3 oz marzipan, chopped 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1/3c agave nectar 1/3c honey 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 1 egg, organic 1/2c heavy cream, organic 1/3c water 1 tsp almond extract 8x8" glass baking dish First I preheated the oven to 350F.  Then I mixed all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.  I chopped up the marzipan into little cubes and then added that to the dry ingredients. I added all the wet ingredients on top and mixed everything up.    I poured everything into the baking dish, and then baked it for 15 minutes on the second from the top rack.  Then I rotated th...

Decided to do a few Valentine's Day orders this year.  I'll make a few more things to fill out my box assortments, but here's the first recipe. Stacey's Dark Chocolate Almond Hearts Ingredients : 24 oz Guittard 64% dark chocolate couverture 11 oz local farmers' market almonds, toasted and chopped Heart Molds I think this recipe has a few too many almonds - I'd probably scale it back to something like 8 oz for next time.  Usually I eyeball it, but I wanted weights for my blog.  I toasted the almonds first for 15 minutes at 350F since the almonds came straight out of the freezer.  Make sure your almonds are around 90F when you add them to your tempered chocolate. Tempering Chocolate (Seed Method) The counter tops were at 62F.  This is important.  If you are tempering chocolate, make sure that the ambient temperature (as well as working surfaces) are less than 70F.  Otherwise chocolate will not temper.  I learned this the hard way the first ...

This is a twist on the recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book , which has great recipes, by the way.  :)  It's the Apple Crisp recipe, but I thought I'd throw some marzipan into it for some added decadence. First you prepare the fruit filling: Then you use it in the crisp recipe: Stacey's altered Fruit Filling ingredients : 7 granny smith apples, organic (peeled, chopped into 1/2" cubes) 2 tsp cornstarch 1 tbs dark brown sugar, organic 1 tbs white sugar, organic Stacey's altered Crisp ingredients : 3/4 cup whole raw almonds (local from farmers' market) 3.4 oz marzipan (I used 33% almond version from The Gourmet Corner ), cut into little cubes 1/2 c unbleached white flour, organic 2 tbs dark brown sugar, organic 1/4 c white sugar, organic 1-2 tsp cinnamon, Saigon (from Costco) 1/8 tsp nutmeg (whole nutmeg, freshly grated with a rasp) 1/2 tsp sea salt, fine 4 tbs unsalted butter, organic (1/2 stick) I've made this r...