Chocoholic Anonymous

Despite the very young age of my blog I am already getting inundated with spam comments.  I would much rather read the real comments from all of you without having to filter through and moderate a multitude of spam comments.  So, I decided to add a Captcha image to the comment form.  I know they can be somewhat of a pain, so I apologize, but I felt it was a necessary step.

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We have a winner!

After the disappointment of the Deep Dark Rich Chocolate Fudge cake, we had to scramble to try out new recipes.  Would you believe we got lucky with the very first one we tried?  This recipe is adapted from one that I found on Epicurious.  I was a little hesitant to try it because the user reviews were a mixed bag ranging from people claiming it was a dry crumbly disaster to people claiming it was the best chocolate cake they had ever made or tasted.

I decided it probably fell somewhere in the middle and hoped that it fell closer to the positve side of that bell curve. I chose to give it a whirl, after all, what is the worst that could happen?  But, I did take the Epicurious reader comments to heart and adjusted the recipe accordingly.

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It’s that time again; Tuesday is here along with another installment of Tuesday’s with Dorie.   This may be my last TWD post for the next two to three weeks; starting on Friday all of my baking motivation and drive will be focused on making my wedding cake as perfect as my mother and I are capable of making it.  Not to mention worrying about all of the million and one last minute details associated with planning a wedding and getting married even when you’re not crazy enough to be making your own cake.

This week’s recipe, Lenox Almond Biscotti, was selected by Gretchen of Canela & Comino.  To be honest, I very nearly decided to begin my TWD hiatus early rather than do this recipe.  I am very busy with the wedding and I had never met a biscotti that I liked so I was having difficulty mustering the proper enthusiasm for this recipe.  But, I decided that this would give my mother and I a chance to bake something together before the wedding that didn’t come with the heavy dose of pressure that the wedding cake does.

Both mom and I are glad that we took the time to make this biscotti – I can now say I have met a biscotti that I truly enjoy!

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If you remember, in my first post I said I would be sharing my trials and tribulations as well as my successes on this blog.  Despite the absolutely divine sounding name of this cake, it unfortunately does fall into the “trials and tribulations” category.

First, I’d like give you all a little bit of background on why I was attempting this cake.  In just under two weeks “Prince Charming” and I are getting married.  I’m sure you’re wondering now what that has to do with attempting a new cake recipe.  Well, back when “Prince Charming” proposed, I asked my mother if we could make my wedding cake as a  mother-daughter project and she agreed (Thank you mom!).  My mother is absolutely amazing in the kitchen and she has done some wedding and anniversary cakes in the past (including my little brother’s wedding cake) that have been just phenomenal.

Since my entire wedding is Fairy Tale themed, you can imagine that the cake I designed isn’t exactly simple or straight forward…

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Today’s TWD recipe was selected by Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy and I can’t thank her enough for her choice.   This recipe is right up my alley and I could hardly wait to get started on it.

For the second week in a row I found myself lacking the appropriate hardware for the recipe, but I forged ahead anyway and while I can’t say that the result was perfection this recipe is certainly going on my “Gotta make this again!” list.

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I know what you’re thinking: “No chocolate? And it isn’t even dessert??”  What is the world coming to?  The fact of the matter is that no matter how much I wish otherwise I cannot live on dessert alone (don’t think I haven’t tried!).  And if I can’t live on dessert alone, there is simply no hope of “Prince Charming” being sustained by sweets.

Over the weekend I usually try to make something in a large enough quantity that “Prince Charming” has easily accessible and readily re-heatable options for lunch during the week.  These ribs fit the bill perfectly because they are quick and easy to prepare and I can quite literally forget them in the pot until we are ready for dinner.

Here’s your recipe; let’s dive right in.

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I posted the full recipe for these muffins in anticipation of getting this post up, however, my day job then became my day and night job, neatly preventing me from doing much of anything else (as I’m sure “Prince Charming” would unhappily attest to if you asked him).  I’ve decided not to let that happen anymore (well, I can’t avoid the working late and crazy hours at the moment, but I can decide I’m still going to do the things I enjoy – sleep is optional, right?) so on to the real reason you’re here reading this…

This recipe was inspired by the need to use up some pre-sliced apples that were starting to brown a bit; there weren’t very many of them so many of my normal apple based recipes just weren’t an option.  So I decided to get creative and come up with something new.  Unfortunately, my creativity used most of my mixing bowls and challenged my limited counter space.  But don’t let that stop you from following along – I assure you these are worth all the bowls it took to make them.  Grab the recipe and let’s go!

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I’m getting this posted a bit later than I intended today, but it is still Tuesday (if only for a little while longer).  TWD is one of the things that inspired me to begin my own blog, so I am very excited to be making my first TWD post.   This week’s recipe is crème brulée (selected by Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake).

Now, I have to admit that I have always been more in love with the concept of crème brulée than with the dessert itself.  I’ve tried ordering it in various restaurants but I’ve always finished the sweet with a vague feeling of disappointment.  It never quite lived up to my expectations.   I can’t quite clearly define what those expectations are, but I can say with absolute certainty that they’ve never been met.

So, I entered into this with somewhat mixed feelings.  Would I be disappointed yet again…this time in my own kitchen?

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