Katiethebaker Blog

Okay, so who DOESN’T adore Paula Deen? She is like Disneyland…there is no way to ever be sad when watching her on t.v. or reading her magazine (which I do both)! I have been making her Magical Peanut Butter Cookies for years now, but always with Splenda. Two nights ago I started to go all out with the sugar and make them with REAL sugar. I am going to get so many cavities from eating these cookies but…TOTALLY worth it!

So Paula’s cookies are the easiest to make, because they basically require just peanut butter and sugar (or splenda)!

 Love her! So here is a link to the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/magical-peanut-butter-cookies-recipe/index.html .

I know it looks like there isn’t a lot of dough to work with, but trust me, don’t make the cookies too big unless you want 8 gigantic cookies instead of 18 regular sized ones. When they bake in the oven they  ’magically grow” haha. Mmmm freshly ground pb!

I HIGHLY recommend using your favorite PB. Mine now is the make your own honey roasted pb at Whole Foods. A little on the expensive side, but think about it…its all natural and you can pick your flavor! PLUS its super fun to turn the knob that grinds the pb!

will y'all look at those!

On my way to getting a cavity

Is that not only do you never get a chance to bake because you are packing…unpacking….moving stuff into peoples garages…moving some stuff out of those garages…and the one box that stays in your friends garage the LONGEST is your baking box:(

So needless to say, it has been awhile since I could properly bake. I baked a few things while I was gone from blogging but my camera was caput and I couldn’t find my charger because it was in a box hiding from me until now. Sadly some tasty treats that I couldn’t photograph were: cabernet chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, a coconut cream pie (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAD) and lots of instant cookies.

While staying at a place where I didn’t have all my baking amenities, I had to compromise with what I had. I got really bored one night and made instant Betty Crocker peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses on top. Now these Crocker cookies were okay…but they are nothing on Paula Deen’s Magical Peanut Butter Cookies (see next post:) ). Although I did have a companion the entire time I was baking them. Sarge doesn’t even like the linoleum on his feet but he suffered just so he could catch even a morsel of cookie!

Eye balling the prize

Way to go Betty!

My official taste tester of these cookies said “not bad” but still if I am going to cheat and make instant cookies, that I should stick with Funfetti because those are always a crowd pleaser!

So recently I have been slightly obssessed with the HBO TrueBlood…I can’t get enough of it. Call me crazy…its horrible writting but still addictive. Its one of those shows that its soooo bad, so its soooo good.

So even though I am embarassed that I watch this show religiously, it gave me an idea. I was going to make these mini cake bites for my friend Kristi who just got married just plain ol’ chocolate covered in chocolate but then I thought….ohhhh red velvet. Its funny when working with red velvet cake mix or anytime you dye cake mix red it looks like blood…TrueBlood anyone? My roommate’s boyfriend, Jon and Matt (both avid Trueblood followers) couldn’t resist!

Trying to "Humanize" my blog with actual peopleI think Jon wants some of Matt's Red Velvet TrueBlood cake!"Bite" size

awww an "S" for Sampson!

Okay, I know I haven’t updated in ages, and its not because I haven’t been baking…but getting the pictures uploaded and onto here is for some reason a gigantic process.  Moving on….for my friend Kristi’s Bachlorette weekend we went up to Santa Ynez Valley to do some wine tasting!

Rancho Sisquoc Winery with the Girls!

That trip got me thinking….I should make wine infused cupcakes! So I immediately started googling. Here is what I came up with, Chocolate Cabernet Sauvignon with blackberry and wine icing! They turned out soooo yummy.

Novella....great wine from Trader Joes

Here is the link to the recipe! I stole it (well borrowed) it from another blogger! Look how cute she displayed them in the wine glasses!

http://shazaminthekitchen.blogspot.com/2008/02/red-red-wine.html

Here is another gorgeous pic of these treats…its a great idea if you are having a wine party:)

Blackberries!

Taste Test: making sure they aren't poisoness

Until next time keep it frosty…with a lil’ bit of wine on the side!

My co-worker Thu-Truc was nice enough for my birthday to pick up a copy of the Magnolia Bakery cookbook! As a thank you I told her I would be making her lots of different treats from the book! First on the list Peanut Butter Fudge Pecan Brownies!

Gotta have the Semi Sweet and the Milk

So good...by the handful!

mmmm Chocolatey-PBgoodness

Brownie Overload!

Yay! On Monday was my birthday! I just wanted to share with you some of the AMAZING stuff I got for my birthday! It seems as though there was a “trend” on what to get me….baking supplies! Thank you everyone that contributes to my baking obsession! I tried to take pictures of everything that I got but there was some I forgot….like…Mom thanks for the massive cupcake cake mold with the matching cupcake book! My roomie Lindsay for the cake leveler and the cake pan!  Here is some of the stuff I did take a picture of…

Thu-Truc walked through the rain in NYC to get this for me!

Erin Knows my style all too well!

Jessica Steele apron from Anthropologie...love you Emily!

Lauren has me stalked to make the perfect cake!

blueberries put wrinkles on your brain! Wrinkles make you smarter!

I am going back to my roots people! The first thing I ever learned to bake was a French Apple Pie in Mrs. Davis’ 8th grade Home Ec class. Apple pies are “my thing” every year without fail for Thanksgiving I’m in charge of dessert and I always make at least one apple pie. This time I went a little different then just traditional apple, I went apple blueberry! Since I was going home for Father’s Day I really want to make my Dad something that he wouldn’t reprimand me for being “too sugary” or….whatever hahaha. This really is the easiest, quickest pie you can make next to pumpkin…Just peel and slice (some say dice the apples but I like my apple chunks to be huge haha) granny smith apples. Mix with some lemon juice and a little bit of sugar. Then take either frozen or fresh blueberries toss them in a little more sugar and top them over the apples, not mixing with the apples, just layer on top. I topped of the pie with a lattice crust. Not my finest crust, but I was nice and crispy when it came out of the oven. Seriously I probably only used about 2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar total. One of them being brown sugar. You could substitute Splenda instead!

Happy Father's Day!

I baked this wonderfully tasty cream cheesy carrott cake for my mom’s BFF Susan’s daughter’s birthday! Thanks Susan! I just really wanted to share with you all how proud I am of how it turned out! This proud mamma is showing off her cake!

**for extra carrott goodness, after shredding the carrotts saute them in light butter with cinnamon and nutmeg! Gives the cake an extra kick!

so pretty

in a cute pink box

Gerber Daisies!

So I was checking out Missy’s BFFs baking blog and she made these Neapolitan cupcakes, and those sounded…..AMAZING! Making them was kind of tedious ( I had to make three different types of batter; strawberry, chocolate and vanilla)! But it was totally worth it for the result!

3x the flavor!

Although it did take a while to make these cupcakes I did have an assistant baker Lauren to help me along! Plus I was originally doing the cake layers, chocolate, strawberry then vanilla…she changed it to chocolate, vanilla then strawberry…MUCH better! That way the cupcakes on top were pinkand not like a mixed kind of gross looking color, hahaha.

Baking away.....

What I have also noticed is when I bake with normal cupcake pans, that are dark metal like the one above, I get that weird little peak on the top of every muffin, which makes my cupcakes look like well….boobs. But when I use my silicon cupcake pans they turn out perfectly round. So I have learned my lesson silicon pans equal pretty perfectly shaped cupcakes! The best part of making these cupcakes, haha is cutting them open and seeing the middle of them. My friend Kim’s son Jake said the inside looked like a party was going on! Thanks Jake! That is exactly what I was going for!

FUN!

let there be FROSTING

Topped with Chocolate Sauce, Bananas and Pecans!

The other day I cleaned my whole apartment…including my kitchen…I mopped the floors and scrubbed the stove top etc. Then What did I do the very next day? I decided to bake a carrott cake…and then the next day bake maple yellow cupcakes with with chocolate “M”s for Marks bday. After all that baking…YES…my kitchen is still quite beautiful. Mostly this is probably due to the fact that I am the only one using my kitchen until a week from Sunday. Anyhoo the carrott cake I made came out quite tasty….not that beautiful ( I was on a time crunch) but still yummy!

mmmm cream cheese frostinHelp Improve Eyesight?