neffnee-bakes-it-happen-blog

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Soft Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Granola Bars

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Nectarine Blueberry Pie

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Moroccan flag cake 🇲🇦: orange, almond & cardamon cake with candied blood orange and a spun sugar star [1080x1080][OC] | More?

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Deliciously Quick Canapes

I find it laughable that this recipe is considered "baking". In place of making a canape pastry, this recipe suggests buying sliced bread, cutting out circled, flattening them, and toasting them into cups. The rest of the recipe is making a filling for the cups. A mango/lime chicken salad. I would most definitely classify this under cooking rather than baking.

Apart from it not really being a baked good, this recipe has taught me how to be resourceful in my kitchen. If I ever find myself in a pinch needing to serve a fancy snack with no time to make a pastry crust, I now know I can use sliced bread and ingredients I often keep in my kitchen.

14 down, 82 to go~

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Bakewell Tart

So how cute is this tart? This is my first time making a real tart and I am so pleased with how it turned out. It is so adorable that I couldn't help but to pour myself a cup of tea in my cat mug while I ate. This recipe was quite fun to make because I learned how to make a simple jam for part of the filling. I am actually astonished by how easy jam is to prepare.

I learned the hard way not to cut the crust edges off until after the crust has been baked because it shrank quite a bit in the oven. But honestly it didn't really end up mattering too much. The filling still all fit inside and it tastes amazing. I adore almond and fruit pairings.

And now for some exciting news! I got a job at a bakery! I have accepted a position at Cookies by Design. I start on August 21st. I will be assisting customers with their orders, answering phones, assembling gift baskets, and assisting with baking and decorating. I am extremely excited (and nervous) for this new adventure. I will be severely increasing my working hours by adding on this second job and I hope that I will not get too overwhelmed. Overall I like to believe that since I will be doing something I love it won't really seem like work at all...

13 down, 83 to go.

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I call these the "Three Birds, One Cupcake" recipe. Why? Because there were three specific people I wanted to bake something for this week and I figured I would bake one batch to save time and money, and when baking for multiple people it's really difficult to go wrong with chocolate. These cupcakes were not part of my challenge but I figured I would add them to the page anyway. I think I have found the absolute perfect chocolate buttercream recipe. I'm pretty sure I consumed more frosting than anything else today. 

I practiced some different piping techniques today since the head of pastries at Nantucket said piping is a key skill I will need as a baker. I was short on time so they were a bit rushed but it was extremely fun playing around and trying out different designs for once, even if a few ended up looking bad.

I'm just feeling so good today. I feel myself again. I feel what I assume people without mental illnesses feel like on a daily basis. It's pretty rare for me to feel like this and I am trying to embrace it as much as possible while I can. I got so much done today and I feel so good about myself. I had an excellent session at work. I ran all of my errands. I took care of my sick pets (another story entirely). I baked, made phone calls, cleaned, went to therapy, spent time with a friend, went on a walk, and drank all 8 cups of water. I almost never have days this good. Heck, I even looked at myself in the mirror and got a huge grin on my face and told myself how beautiful I am. Today is a good day. Maybe it's all of the chocolate I've eaten...

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Crunchy Beer Bread

This week has shown me how much I need to learn about the art of bread baking. This recipe is still fairly simple compared to many other bread recipes and I'm not exactly sure where it went wrong. It could have been the temperature of the stout. It could have been that I didn't wait long enough for the yeast to activate before the dough was put in the fridge. It could have been that I didn't let it rise enough, I didn't knead it enough, or I didn't bake it long enough. I'm not even sure where to begin when I eventually re-do this bake. It also doesn't help that I have been really depressed this week. The entire time I was working on this bread I had no desire to do so. I'm even posting this 4 days late because I'm only finally starting to feel a bit like myself again.

The bread's taste was actually decent. There was a really good stout flavor that came through. The texture was where the real problem was. The bread was very dense and doughy. I'm not sure if it rose too much or didn't rise enough. My bread ended up being a lot larger than the one in the recipe book but it didn;t seem to have risen much during the proofing process. Anyway, if anyone knows anything about bread and has advice I would be happy to hear it. The same goes for advice with depression..

Next week I am making my first tart.

12 recipes down, 84 to go.

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Blackberry and Apple Buckle

I know last week I said this week's bake would be a beer bread but it turns out the ingredients for that recipe are not only hard to find but also extremely expensive. I had to turn to amazon to order some of the ingredients so in the meantime I decided to skip ahead!

Today's bake turned out so amazing. It's basically a fruit crumble but it's apparently called a "buckle" because of how the top "buckles" while it bakes. At least that's what my book tells me..

Anyway while I was out shopping the other day I came across gluten free baking flour on a really good sale so I decided to make this dish gluten free. I have a few friends and family that have celiac and so it means a lot to me to be able to find recipes that are or can be gluten free so that I can put a smile on their faces every once in a while. When I'm at a family party and I see my aunt eating a salad she brought and staring at the dessert table full of cookies and brownies it breaks my heart. Everyone should be able to enjoy food. I know I sure as hell do. So whenever possible I try to bring a gluten free treat for her. Similarly I feel guilt when I bring in my weekly bakes to work and remember that I have some friends that can't eat them.

As for the bake, it turned out so unbelievably delicious. I was struggling so much to not go back for seconds. I ate it while still warm, per the book's suggestion, and it was crumbly, gooey, buttery, and sweet all at once. The gluten was not missed at all. Had I not mentioned to AJ that I used gluten free flour, he says he would not have noticed. This recipe was perfect for substituting the flour because there wasn't much flour needed to begin with because the batter was primarily filled with fruit.

I am excited to try this recipe again in the future with different fruit combinations. I am thinking pear/blackberry, peach/raspberry, and apple/cranberry. Honestly the possibilities are endless. Any suggestions on what fruit combos you think would taste best for this recipe?

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Dabbled in the art of drunk baking last night. I baked a fresh loaf of my tried and true basic bread. Then at about 1am in a drunken stupor I put together a french toast bake to sit overnight so my friends and I could have breakfast today. I ran out of milk so I watered down heavy whipping cream. I didn't feel like pulling a second carton of eggs out of the fridge so I didn't use the amount of eggs the recipe called for. I eyeballed the flour, sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon because finding measuring cups was not in my cards. I used almond extract instead of vanilla because the bottles look very similar. I did not follow ANY of the recipe as suggested and just kind of said, "yeah this seems fine. It will be fine."

After all of that I still ended up with a beautiful, delicious, and perfect breakfast.

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Easy Espresso Traybake

I have to admit that this recipe was one of the few I was least excited about when I first read through my cookbook. I'm not a fan of dark chocolate and, at the time, I wasn't a fan of coffee. But so far this recipe is one that I am most proud of. Apart from the boule loaf from a few weeks back (of which I have two currently baking in the oven because I cannot get enough of it) this is my favorite bake so far. The recipe called for a square pan and to frost it in the pan and serve it as such (a traybake) but I was cheap and decided to use my round cake pan and remove it from the pan before adding the frosting. Instead of a traybake it was a one layer cake and I think it turned out gorgeous. In my opinion it looks even more beautiful than the one in the cookbook. Apart from it being one of the best looking bakes so far in my challenge, it tasted fantastic. This is the first bake I've made that I would not change in the slightest. The batter, although a little dry, had great flavor and the dryness was absolved by the smooth and creamy chocolate icing. The cinnamon combined with the chocolate and coffee I originally thought sounded disgusting but it added a perfect element of interest to make every bite enjoyable.

Now for the part of my post where I admit my mistakes... 🙈 As I said before, I thought I didn't like coffee, which means that I know very little about coffee because I never drink it. So when the recipe called for instant coffee I figured the ground coffee we keep around for when visitors come over would suffice. The ground coffee did not suffice. The instant coffee is supposed to dissolve into the milk at the beginning of the recipe. The ground coffee did not dissolve. It looks like a bowl of gross looking chia pudding. I then decided to try and strain it. All that really did is added to my list of things to clean. I really wish I had thought to take a photo of this abomination of a baking attempt before throwing it away and starting again.

But once I knew the difference between instant and ground coffee and sent my very sweet boyfriend to the store, the end results were fantastic. I actually think I might make this again in the future.

As for other news in my baking world, I got in contact with the head of the pastry department at a place called Nantucket Baking Company here in Grand Rapids. They are by far my favorite bakery around here because they offer a wide array of pastries, cakes, patisserie, breads, and more. I've admired their work since the first day I walked into their shop when I moved here a couple of years ago. I e-mailed them to talk about what skills and education I should pursue in order to qualify myself as true baker. She was more than helpful with her response and suggested that I continue with my challenge at home and to try and focus on piping, decorating, and trying out various flavor combinations. It's really exciting to have some goals to work on the really get myself to where I want to be. I am looking into cake decorating courses and adding some really nice piping bags and tips to my wish list for future practice.

Lastly for this post - I was talking to my sister the other day about my challenge and she had a great idea for me. I occasionally get recipes and videos sent to me of different things people want me to try and bake either for them or just in general. Although at the moment I don't want to add any extra bakes into my schedule, I was thinking that I could save all of the links that are suggested to me in a file, and that after I complete this baking challenge I can begin a new challenge by completing all of the suggested bakes one by one. So if there's every anything you wish to see me attempt (and please be kind and not send me something insane I would need to purchase ridiculous amounts of equipment/ingredients for) then I will add it to my next challenge. As for now - 10 down, 86 to go.

Next week: Crunchy Beer Bread

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Fresh Mango Loaf Cake

Except I've been calling it a tropical fruit cake because there is a lot more going on in this recipe than mangoes. I've received nothing but positive reviews from this bake today and honestly I have nothing negative to say about it, which is a big feat because I am a huge critic of myself. I love everything about how this turned out. It is moist without feeling super oily, it is flavorful without being overpowering. It's the perfect amount of sweetness plus I made it completely vegan. Although the recipe calls for eggs I decided last minute to opt out in order to make it available to one of my bosses who is vegan and it turned out better than I think it would have otherwise.

Also I finally got the maintenance crew to check out my oven. They said that my oven works perfectly and the problem is my oven thermometer... I vote that they are lazy and didn't take the time to actually look into it. They said my thermometer is off but they didn't care to tell me how many degrees it was off by or even in what direction. But that doesn't give an explanation as to how my oven will be 25 degrees too low and suddenly 25 degrees too hot then back to 50 degrees too low all within the same half hour. I'm not sure what the next step is but I think it will have to begin with getting proof of my oven's incompetence over time.

Lastly I wanted to mention that I was approached about doing another commission for a wedding shower and I'm just so excited about it. I can't believe people have so much faith in me and my baking abilities when I often lack faith in myself. It's a real self-esteem booster.

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Cottage Cheese Puff Biscuits

This week was my first savory bake. With little surprise, this is one of A.J.'s favorites so far and has already asked me to bake more of them. I even had to tell him to stop eating them all so that I could bring some to work and he wanted to keep them all for himself. So all in all I'd say this recipe is a hit. I personally found the biscuit itself rather boring but let's be honest, put goat cheese on just about anything and I'm in love.

Apart from the boulle loaf from a few weeks back this is the easiest recipe so far. The dough was made entirely in the food processor and only involved 5 ingredients. The entire process would have been completely smooth had I used an oven that worked properly.

Before you ask, yes they were on separate racks but I rotated them halfway through baking as instructed. When I realized I smelled burning I went to pull them out to discover the oven was running at 500 degrees (only 100 more than the oven was set to be at.) I think it's just a very clear indicator of how unevenly my oven works. As of yet A.J. has still not filed a work-order with the apartment.

Oh and P.S. if you don't like cottage cheese it doesn't really make a difference because it's made in a food processor and all of the lumps are gone.

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This week has held a lot of firsts for me. I just finished up my very first baking commission! They are for a gender/sex reveal party. It's so exciting that word is getting out about my baking. People are suggesting to their friends and family to have me bake for their events because they believe in me and enjoy my bakes. I also got my very first donation this week and a stranger met me and said that she is following my blog. I also did my first cupcake bake without a recipe. With the help of my coworker, Elizabeth I just took flavors and techniques that I have learned so far and combined them into a delicious strawberry lemonade cupcake that my coworkers at our work picnic seemed to enjoy quite a bit. The amount of support I have received since I began this adventure is overwhelming. Thank you all so much.

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S’mores Cupcakes with Toasted Meringue Frosting