Monday, June 22, 2009

i heart ... sticky toffee






on saturday brook and i had our most recent recipe exchange.

i made "sticky toffee dessert".

i found the recipe in a nigella lawson cookbook.

i loved it!

it was like a caramel bread pudding.

i made extra for my family

and they loved it too.

(although, kaitlyn said she likes german chocolate cake better.
but whatever!)




sticky toffee dessert
nigella lawson

cake:

1/3 cup of dark brown sugar, packed
1 cup + 2 tbls. self-rising flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1 teas. vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup + 2 tbls. chopped rolled dates
(yes, dates... i hate dates, but i went for it anyway and it totally worked!)




sauce:

3/4 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 tbls. unsalted butter, separated into little blobs
2 1/4 cups boiling water




preheat oven to 375 degrees. butter a 1 1/2 quart capacity baking dish.


combine sugar and flour in a large bowl. pour milk into a medium sized bowl, beat in the egg, vanilla and melted butter and then pour this mixture over the sugar and flour, stirring with a wooden spoon to combine. fold in the dates, then scrape into the prepared baking dish. don't worry if it doesn't look very full.


sprinkle the sugar for the sauce over the cake batter and dot with the butter. pour the boiling water over the dough (yes, really!) and transfer to oven. set timer for 45 minutes, but may need 5 to 10 minutes more. top of dessert should be springy and spongy when it's done;

underneath, the butter, sugar and boiling water will have turned into a rich, sticky sauce.


serve warm with vanilla ice cream , crème fraîche or heavy cream.


serves 4








Monday, June 15, 2009

i heart ... brook

brook and her husband joe

this is my cousin brook.

but she's more than just my cousin.

she's one of my best friends,
she's my favorite travel companion,
she would be my twin if i had a twin because we like the exact same things,
and she's my favorite baker!

i'm always happy when i'm with her because it's always the best time ever...

but what makes brook happy?

10 things that make brook happy:

1. joe

2. makeup

3. trying a new recipe

4. going on a road trip

5. radiohead

6. chocolate

7. europe

8. paula!

9. anything that relates to france!

10. scottish accents




scottish accents!

i concur!

see, i told you we're twins!







Saturday, June 13, 2009

i heart ... arizona sunsets

arizona sunsets are one of my favorite things.
breathtaking.
here are a few great sunsets i've captured.