Stacey Makes It

It's that time of year again.  The time of year that people like to eat extra chocolate that isn't Easter or Christmas.  So I thought I'd put together some boxes again to sell to my mom's wonderful friends and my awesome co-workers so that I can keep deducting my ingredients from my taxes. Stacey's 2012 Mid-February (for those who hate Valentine's Day) Chocolate Boxes: Strawberry white chocolate hearts with crispies and milk chocolate bottoms Dark Chocolate Hearts with Candied Almonds Chocolate Bars:  Strawberry White Chocolate with Crispies White Chocolate with Dark Chocolate Drizzle Dark Chocolate with Candied Almonds Kahlua Truffles Two Ways: Dipped in Dark Chocolate with a White/Milk Chocolate Drizzle Rolled in Chocolate Sprinkles and Organic Turbinado Sugar And lastly, my pièce de résistance... The Walnut Meltaway in Milk Chocolate - this is my latest invention of which I am so proud.  I ate one of these and I swear I was transcended t...

Yes, another cake. Stacey's Honey Lemon Cake Ingredients: 1 1/2c unbleached white flour, organic 1/2c whole wheat flour, organic 1/4c brown rice flour, organic 3/4c sugar, organic 1 tsp sea salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1c whole milk, organic 1/3c heavy cream, organic 2 eggs, organic 1/4c blood orange infused olive oil 1/4c non-fat yogurt, organic 1/4c lemon juice (about 1 medium sized lemon) zest from 1 lemon 3-4 tbs honey (I used Blueberry Honey) 9x9" square cake pan with liner First, I preheated the oven to 350F. I combined all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Then I combined the oil, eggs, yogurt, lemon juice and zest in a measuring cup and beat it with a fork.  In another measuring cup, I put the cream and milk and microwaved it until it was hot, about 125F.  Then I poured both sets of liquids into the dry ingredients and mixed gently with a silicone scraper until it was smooth and combined.  I poured everything into th...

I don't know why it took me so long to make this - tapioca pudding is one of my favorite things.  Perhaps I was intimidated by all of it's creamy, chewy, goopy grandeur.  Oh well, better late than never. :) Stacey's Tapioca Pudding Ingredients: 3/4c water, cold 1/3c small tapioca pearls 2c whole milk, organic 1/4 tsp sea salt 1 tsp vanilla bean paste 1/3c sugar, organic 2 eggs, lightly beaten, organic First I hydrated the pearls by letting them soak in the water for 20-30 minutes in a pot.  Then I added the milk, vanilla, and salt and brought it to boiling over low heat for about 15 minutes or until the pearls seemed somewhat clear.  I beat the sugar and eggs together with a fork and then tempered the eggs by pouring in about a cup of the tapioca pearl milk mixture, stirring constantly with the fork. Then, I added the egg mixture back to the pot with the rest of the tapioca milk mixture and stirred continuously over low flame with a silicone scraper unti...

I've been making a few rice puddings, but this is the first one that came out the way I wanted to eat it.  I know it doesn't really seem like a rice pudding (if you want it to be thick and more pudding-y, use some sort of glutinous rice like sushi rice as a replacement in this recipe - that works really well for super thick rice puddings). This recipe is actually sort of soupy. Stacey's Brown Rice Pudding Ingredients: 1/2c short grain brown rice, organic 2c whole milk, organic 1c water 1/2 tsp cardamom 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 1/4 tsp salt 1/4c peanuts (optional) 1/4c golden raisins (optional) 4-qt stockpot with tight fitting lid Put all the ingredients except for the peanuts and raisins into the stockpot and bring it to a boil with the lid off.  Once it comes to a boil, put the lid on and let it simmer over low heat for 50 minutes.  If you're going to put in the raisins and peanuts, you can do it now.  Put the lid back on and continue to let simmer an...

So, if you saw my last silly post , you'd know that I've given up using copyrighted, non-licenseable characters.  Here is one of the new characters I'll be using until my custom action figure from thatsmyface.com arrives in the mail. I hope to one day make these into children's books, so if you have any suggestions or feedback, lay it on me. :) I hope you enjoy this. And if you have kids, maybe they have feedback too? Also, this "reads" better if you click on the first image and view it via the picassa image viewer, because then it's like every photo gets its own page and it feels more like a picture book.  The end Director's commentary : This wasn't actually what I had planned, but my reaction was pretty similar to Manny's when I dropped my little horsie and the tail fell off.  :) And props to the boyfriend for coming up with the idea for "the end."

I made these the first time where I completely coated the chips, like I'd seen them do in some chocolate shops.  I really felt like it was too much chocolate so that I couldn't enjoy the chips.  And I really love chips almost more than chocolate.  I know, I know, calm down. Anyway, so I felt this was a much better way of enjoying both. Stacey's Chocolate Drizzled Potato Chip Ingredients: 1 bag Sea Salt Kettle Chips (not the giant bag, and not the snack bag - the regular bag?) Mix of Milk and Dark Guittard Chocolate couverture I just tempered about maybe 12 ounces of chocolate to do this and also dip some TJ's jo-jos for a party I went to.  I spread the chips out evenly on a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap and then using a fork, I drizzled the tempered chocolate over the chips.  After the chocolate on the chips cooled for a bit and hardened (maybe 5-10 minutes), I turned the chips over and drizzled the other side. I liked this version much better 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 ...