02 26 10

Well this week didn't turn out very well. For two reason, first I tried a new recipe for something I have never made before, Fudge. It started out really well. Look looked good and it smelled good. And I even tried the cold water ball test. And even after all that....it never hardened. It was very sad. I even tried to freeze the chocolate hoping it would work. But alas, pudding has a thicker consistency then my fudge.

But is was my first time so I try not to be hard on myself. I am still learning to bake, and even though I enjoy it and I have been baking for a while, there is still so much I need to learn.

Here is the recipe: Peanut Butter Fudge, again from Allrecipes.com because I love that site.

Oh yeah, and the second part was that it was a snow day so I wasn't even able to go into work. But I guess in hindsight it was a good thing because my first try with this recipe only earned me 1 star. But I plan to try again in the near future and that is all that really matters.

02 19 10

This week I tried a a twist on an office favorite. They love the Banana Crunch Muffins I make, so I thought I would try a different type of banana muffin. These are Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and they turned out great. Moist but not too sweet. The only thing is that I was low on the chocolate chips and I think they would have tasted better if there was more in the batter. Either way all but two were gone by the end of the day and I made 24.

A very positive 5 stars. Yummy!

02 12 10

This is actually the same German Apple Cake recipe I made a few weeks ago except before I used a cheese grader to slice the apples and this time I just used a knife to cut them into thin stripes. I definitely like this way better. You can see the apples more, and you can taste them as well. Needless to say it was a huge success in the office. But not all of it was eaten because all the wonderful temps are gone and the other half of the office was in Las Vegas for a show.

To bad, more for me. 4 Stars.

02 05 10

This week I made the chocolate cookies again. Only because it was the last day of our temps. They have been telemarketing for us for the last 3 months and they have defiantly been rays of sunshine in the office. Well anyway, they loved the cookies so they requested I make them for their last Friday at the office. Which I did.

But this time I made half the batch with Macadamia nuts in them. They turned out great. It was not called for in the recipe but it still turned out really yummy.

Here are the pictures of the temps that left. Below is Adam and Catlin. Very good team and I hope maybe in the future a little more. They were so cute together.

And then there was Douglas. He was the one that always had a smile on his face and you just couldn't help smiling back. Here he is pretending he is holding a cookie (this is how I wanted to photograph the temps but I ran out of time at the end of the day). I hope that each one of them finds a great job in the future and I wish them the best of luck, it was truly a pleasure to work with them.

Again 5 stars because all nut 3 cookies were gone by the end of the day.

01 29 10

So it has been crazy at work lately because we have out show coming up, so I decided to take it easy and just make an old office favorite, Brownies. These are not really home made. They are from a box. Trader Joe's brand of "Triple Chocolate Truffle" mix. You can't go wrong with this. Of course I also add a little chocolate syrup to the mix, just to give that extra choco pop.

This was the tray by 11:30am, as you can see when the office knows I brought the brownies they take them in advance, just to make sure they get some, or they just really love brownies and can't get enough in the early morning hours of the day.

This pic, of course, was the end of the day. They loved it and because it was so easy to make I loved it too.

5 stars because this was gone by 12:30.

1-21-2010

Well I wish I could say that this German Apple Cake was enjoyed by all at my work but unfortunately it never got there. I made it Thursday night as I do all my sweets, but on Friday my son woke up at 5 am very sick and I ended up staying home with him.

But just because I was home I couldn't let this go untasted so I was able to enjoy that cake all by myself. I think it defiantly would have been gone by the end of the day. It was very good and the powder sugar on top was perfect. I think it would have been to much to have an overly sweet icing.

But don't get me wrong, it was sweet, but not too sweet and moist, oh so moist! I thought the apples would stay together a little better after baking but you could barely see them when you eat it. But trust me, it did not take away from the taste at all. I plan to tuck away this sweet Friday treat for another week.

I give it 4 stars. I think this recipe would have been very well received at work. On the other hand my son is feeling better now but I have to say Friday was a very hard day so it was nice to treat myself with a little indulgence.

1-15-2010

This week I made "Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies". I have never made cookies for work before but on Thursday when I asked some co-workers what they think I should make, chocolate chip cookies came up right away. I found the recipe in the October 2009 issue of Everyday Food. I love this magazine because it comes loaded with all kinds of things to make.

Here is the recipe.

When I was making the cookies I forgot to add the brown sugar before I added the chocolate chips, so I had to add it after everything had already been mixed but the small error turned out great. Because I couldn't mix very hard (as to not break the chocolate chips) there were little pockets of brown sugar goodness. I defiantly altered the way the cookies tasted but it was a very yummy alteration.

Originally I was going to make a double batch because it says it only makes 24 cookies and I have an office of 12 and there is no way that everyone will only eat two. But at last minute I learned I didn't have enough sugar for the double batch, and boy am I glad I didn't. I made 40 cookies out of one batch, not to mention one large cookie (pictured below) for a co-workers last day at the job. She was a temp and had found a permanent position. Her name was Ellen so I made her a large cookie with an E made out of chocolate chips. Anyway, the point of the story is, if you make this recipe; make only one batch.

Out of the 35 cookies (had to save some for myself) all but 3 and a quarter were eaten. I give these 4 stars only because I thought some of the cookies turned out a little crispy but my whole office said they were fantastic and cookies were suppose to be crispy. But this is defiantly a recipe I would like to try again someday.

This post is dedicated to Ellen and I wish her best of luck on her new job.

Until next week....