benevolent baking

A million little peaches

bakingclubcc — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:20:42 +0000

In an attempt to get the blog rolling again, I’ll put up two quick posts about what we’ve been up to this semester.

Earlier this year we decided we would risk our sanity by making two things in one night. It all started with our desire to make meringues… who doesn’t like a meringue? Well it turns out meringues are very difficult to make at altitude, but we tried anyways. This is where our sanity was nearly lost: a battle of epic proportions as far as benevolent baking is concerned ensued as Kristin and Theresa argued (mostly fake) about whether or not the meringues were going to turn out and whether or not they should try to make a second desert just in case. After both bakers had raised their voices and ended the argument with head in hand they (we…) decided to do both! The second desert ended up being shortbread cakes with fresh peaches and whip cream topping. All in all, what started as a benevolent baking fiasco turned into a benevolent baking masterpiece. A choice of deserts in the library was unprecedented and both turned out quite delicious. Here are some pictures to prove we are still alive.

Instead of a joke this time, here is a riddle that invovles peaches: go to that website to read it

http://www.booksie.com/riddles/short_story/savior/the-peach-riddle

__________________________________________

to healthy hearts and smiling stomachs,

kristin&theresa

Twix or Tweats

bakingclubcc — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 20:48:42 +0000

Fourth Tuesday of the block is inevitably a stressful time for most CC students. It is on this night that the benevolent bakers search out those students who are banging their heads against a library carrel at 1 am because they’re just not sure they’re going to finish on time. This past block (sorry this post is pretty late), we found ourselves without much work and heard the call of hungry studiers in the library. Our snack: a homemade twix bar (see the recipes tab for further instruction). This three layered bar of shortcake, caramel, and chocolate tasted absolutely wonderful, but the appearance fell short a little. The shortcake was too cumbly and caused the bars to fall apart slightly. What could have been done differently? More butter, duh! Next time, we hope that they look like this. However, we forgot, as we always do, that students in the library at 1 am on 4th Tuesday can barely see three feet in front of them, so thankfully presentation wasn’t too important.

And now for something to (maybe) make you laugh:

What do you call a cow that can’t moo?
.
.
.
.
.
.
A milk dud!

__________________________________________

to healthy hearts and smiling stomachs,

kristin&theresa

Mint Condition

bakingclubcc — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 03:04:56 +0000

Welcome back! It has been a long summer without you. We have been baking and have had no stressed out studiers to feed. Luckily Theresa is taking a 100 level biology class and Kristin is doing an “independent study” (aka we have nothing better to do).

So, we decided to start out with a classic flavor combination: mint and chocolate. How original! It was smooth sailing in the kitchen, but hard to know when they were done (the york patties in the middle melted and were deceiving). Which leads us to the first lesson we relearned that day: pay attention to the oven. Its very easy to leave something in for just a little too long… We really only burnt 4 but we’re still beating ourselves up about it.

But our chocolate mint brownie cupcakes were delicious and well received.

__________________________________________

to healthy hearts and smiling stomachs,

theresa&kristin

You Butter Believe It!

bakingclubcc — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:03:02 +0000

After dressing up as a French man for drag ball, Kristin had the urge to expand her French culinary repertoire. Thus, the croissant.

Croissants are very time intensive, but completely worth it. Flaky layers of butter and dough formed into the cutest little crescents you’ve ever seen. What could be better? Adding chocolate. So we did! And it was good. And fun. And interesting. And we loved it. And we smiled. And some of the people in the library smiled. End of story. Here are the pictures!

joke time!…

What do you call an exploding French kichen?

Linoleum Blown-apart!

__________________________________________

to healthy hearts and smiling stomachs,

theresa&kristin

Easter was eggcelent!

bakingclubcc — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:35:31 +0000

Brafternoon Runch proved to be a great success! Kathryn & Theresa prepared a seriously delicious feast for 20 this Sunday and we couldn’t have looked “any more CC” sitting out on blankets behind Cutler enjoying a day in the sun. Donned in Easter bonnets, floral dresses, and pastel colors, a picnic of epic proportions ensued. The food was truly mouth watering. Light and fluffy quiches, refreshing fruit skewers, perfectly doughy wheat rolls, orzo spinach salad, cute lil’ frittatas… the list goes on.

By far the most fun part of the afternoon was the egg dying extravaganza. 4 dozen hard boiled eggs were dyed. Sadly some were crushed in competitions of strength, but most made it out unscathed.

The dyes ^^

Monster Egg!

So many beautiful eggs!

Friends : )

We were unsure what to do with 30+ dyed eggs later that night. While we considered just doing normal baking club with the eggs, we thought that library goers might be less than enthused at an offering of a hard boiled egg… Soooo we decided to hide them around the library and have a hunt. Thea, Jody, Britton, and Megan were our greatest competitors, and they provided us with many laughs as they sprinted in between book shelves, frantically searching for eggs. They returned with handfuls of eggs and received many a strange look from those seated around. Overall, it was hilarious and a lot of fun. Can’t wait til next Easter!

And now something to ponder while you clean your socks…

What do you call an egg from outer space?

An egg-stra terrestrial!

__________________________________________

to healthy hearts and smiling stomachs,

theresa&kristin

There are no puns about lemons…

bakingclubcc — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:43:23 +0000

We’re sorry to report that this episode of baking club includes no pictures, so we’ll keep it short. We made lemon bars; they were really gooey and lemony and fresh. Theresa did the entirety of the baking herself and Kristin joined her in the library for a speedy delivery. Between prospies, midnight rastall, and an ice cream social in worner, there were a lot of opportunities for free food on Thursday night… Lots of people sadly turned us down, but there were a few very gracious studiers. The carrols are the perfect place to look for hungry students. This week really proved to be a wonderful self-esteem boost for the chefs. We were referred to as angels twice, something that has never happened before. So next time you see two ladies in white with halos and trays full of goodies roaming the library look forward to a little taste of heaven.

Now something to ponder while you say your prayers…

When is an astronaut’s favorite time to eat lemon bars?

Launch Time!

__________________________________________

to healthy hearts and smiling stomachs,

kristin&theresa

Pucker Up!

bakingclubcc — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:18:42 +0000

Spring has sprung! We are welcoming the new season with a baking club event featuring baby lemon cheese cakes. The inspiration for the miniature cakes came from Theresa’s love for miniature foods. While miniature foods are cute, there is a line that can be crossed. See here: http://theminifoodblog.blogspot.com/

With inspiration and excitement abounding, we started the evening of baking around 7 (we didn’t hand out the last cake until around 11:15… this club is seriously affecting my social life). We faced our only major set back early on. How could we prevent the cheese cakes from sticking to the pan and also get them out of the muffin holes without ruining them? After much deliberation and experimentation with tin foil, parchment paper, and everything else you can think of we began to think we were going to have to give up. Just when we were ready to stick our heads in the oven we found the following technique online: cut strips of parchment paper about 1/2 inch thick and crossed them in each cup. GENIUS!!!

Other than our dilly dallying for an hour trying to figure out the parchment paper, the baking went smoothly.

The crust tasted wonderful – a perfect combo of butter, sugar, and graham cracker. We almost ate the entire bowl…

As always we had a few friends helping us with the baking:

Grace mixing the cheese cake! (Kathryn was there too, but there are no pictures of her lovely face…)

<–Theresa pouring the cheese cake into the muffin tin using a plastic bag

Perfect Lil’ cheese cake!

We expedited the cooling process with the help of the freezer and soon the mini cheese cakes were ready to go & looking great!

The library delivery was questionable (you know who you are), but we learned some very valuable lessons, which are unimportant to mention here (mostly because we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings).

One of our most valued customers, Thea, commented to other library goers: “After eating this, everything else was literally poop.” We’re not sure if this is a compliment to our mini cheese cakes or a bash to our other baked goods or both, but any publicity is good publicity right?

And now something to ponder while you eat your cereal…

What do you give an injured lemon?

Lemon-AID!!!

__________________________________________

to healthy hearts and smiling stomachs,

kristin&theresa

an appletite for crumbles

bakingclubcc — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:14:22 +0000

This week marked the second anniversary of the documentation of baking club. This week we decided to mix things up a bit and made apple crumble bars. We had 2 new members who joined in the baking, Kathryn Baker (how appropriate!) and Mariko Fujita. Kathryn accompanied the duo to the library. Although we were wary about incorporating another ginger into the delivery (after the Andrew fiasco of 02/24/2010), she proved to be a wonderful addition.

The Process:

Creating the perfect crust.

Have you ever seen anyone crush walnuts with this much joy?

Mariko. Our new friend!

And we’re off!

What did we learn?
1. Theresa should handle the knife and be in charge of the cutting. It was very obvious which bars were cut by who. Kristin’s flopped and crumbled while Theresa’s held strong and did not fall apart.
2. Cloves are very strong. Only use them in small quantities (1 tsp. is NOT a small quantity unless you are making a bathtub full of apples, then you might need 2 tsp.)
3. Students sitting alone in a small room are much more likely to refuse snacks than those in groups.
4. However, when students are in a group, if the first to respond says no the other students are more likely to follow suit.

After 6 weeks of baking club, we still find it hard to believe that students will turn down homemade snacks late at night. Are there that many people on diets at CC? Often people are surprised that we are giving these things away for free or feel self-conscious that we’ll judge them or something if they take one. So they shrug, shake their head slightly, and insist they’re not hungry………. yeah right.

We do not want to dwell on these few, though, and prefer to focus on our most loyal customers who are in the library week after week, laboring over their homework, showing real scholarly commitment. We can always count on those few like Jack Myers, Johnny Checton, Amy Markstein, and Max Thorn to be waiting in the library with growling stomachs. Thanks guys.

And now something to ponder while you’re brushing your hair…

How do you make an apple grumble?

Chop it up and put it in a crumble!

(This week, we made up the joke ourselves! We have MANY talents.)

__________________________________________

to healthy hearts and smiling stomachs,

kristin&theresa

Vegetable puns are hard to beet…

bakingclubcc — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:12:38 +0000

The salad bar at Rastall is a glorious feat of human kind (most days), equipped with everything from craisins to blue cheese (if you’re lucky) to BEEEEEEETS. Frankly, one of our authors (kristin) thinks beets are gross. As gross as eating an egg that was hard boiled in a hot tub. But that’s besides the point. Today, Kristin’s hatred of beets was curbed when the vegan station at Rastall offered a winter vegetable medley over a quinoa pilaf. Quinoa = heaven. Anyways, the winter vegetable medley included beets. Feeling adventurous Kristin tried one. However, unlike our beet friends in the salad bar, these beets were cooked/baked/sauteed (who knows) instead of pickled. And what a pleasant surprise this turned out to be. For the first time in her life, Kristin ate a beet and enjoyed it. So she called up her friend Theresa and asked how many ways beets could be prepared. Well let me tell you. They can be:

roasted

pickled

put on a crostini

straight up cooked

sauteeeeeed

steamed

boiled

raw

baked

over easy

ice creamed

smoothied…

The possibilities are endless. We hope that you can come to enjoy the wonder that is the beet in your dining experience.

And now something to ponder while you’re waiting in the Rastall line for lunch,

What did the carrots say to the wheat?

Lettuce rest, we’re feeling beet!

—————————————————————————————

to healthy hearts and smiling stomachs,

theresa&kristin

Dough-not be tempted to eat the computer screen…

bakingclubcc — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:02:05 +0000

Wednesday night the dynamic duo (plus andrew and ellie) cut out, fried, and delivered over 4 dozen donuts to the library. The baking process was as smooth as butter. Kristin and Theresa were in charge of passionately mixing and kneading the dough.

Ellie was in charge of cutting out the donuts using a cup and vanilla extract cap (how resourceful!)

Andrew, to no surprise, headed up the frying station, dipping and removing the donuts with ease (his grace would later be put to the test).

Theresa, the baking genius she is, quickly whipped up delicious raspberry and chocolate frosting and we smothered the donuts in the glazes.

(Be sure to take note of the little donut hole. How cute!)

The group left sacred grounds and headed over to the library excited about the reactions they would receive. Despite the duo’s efforts to promote a peaceful delivery, havok ensued when Andrew entered the library. Being new to baking club, Andrew caused quite a commotion, almost dropping the entire tray as he sashayed up the stairs. These were merely minor setbacks and about 50 students (and a few real live adults) experienced the magic of fried glory.

And now something to ponder on your way to class:

What do you call a pastry that came from heaven?

A holy donut!

——————————————————————————

to healthy hearts and smiling stomachs,

kristin&theresa