Rainbow Bread again and some thoughts

So for my real job I have been assigned the task to browse over 1000 "mommy-blog" sites. This includes many of the lovely recipe sites I have been stumbling upon (not via that site...) like Annie Eats. As I have done this I have realized a number of things.
1) My website not only suffers from my infrequent posting, but is generally inadequate in a whole host of other ways
2) I have zero following and continuing to post to no follows seems...wasteful? superfluous? other more self-deprecating things
3) My food photos are mostly NOT GOOD

Now out of these three things I really could work on fixing all of them. I could post more and redesign the site format. I have signed up for twitter and google plus, and my facebook page was getting some more traffic in January, so I could push harder for a larger following. And finally, and the point of this long winded, self absorbed post is I can re-shoot the stuff that I happily made when all this started (and make frequently, but don't post about because repeat posts are boring) with my new (it's a year old now, is it really still new?) fancy camera.

Sooooo....my most popular post is Rainbow Bread. It has been pinterested a few times. Here is a MUCH better photographed version.

I followed the KitchenAid recipe for white bread. Before I let it rise I cut it into six equal parts and colored them. I later rolled each piece out, piled them on top of each other and twisted into a loaf. Presto- fun bread!


I see a heart here:
 

 Didn't it come out perfect?!



























OMG! It looks SO GOOD!

Please recreate, enjoy and share your experience with me! :-D

Chocolate Filled Cream Puffs

Chocolate-Filled Cream Puffs

When I first got my Kitchen-Aid mixer a large number of years ago I went through the recipe book and selected what I deemed "the most complicated thing in the book." Chocolate-Filled Cream Puffs. They came out perfectly! I've made them about a dozen times since then and even won a local-scale award for recreating them while camping once.

 Here they are for your enjoyment:
 I used a recipe that came with my Kitchen-Aid Mixer. For the first time in the history of this blog I am going to with-hold that recipe. When attempting to google for it, I found others who had subsequently lost their Kitchen-Aid cookbook and were seeking the recipe, I think I will hold it as a treasure to my heart. Believe me, the photos tell the story well enough.

 I started with these quality ingredients and eggs...why aren't the eggs in the photo?

 To Make the filling, a story unfolds...

 This is cornstarch in a pot. It is happy.



Now evaporated milk has dissolved that happy cornstarch, oh no!

 Chocolate has come to avenge the cornstarch!

 Baking chocolate is interrogating Chef Blue for what he knows about how to bring down evaporated milk.
 

 As chocolate melts into the evaporated milk, it thickens.

 And thickens.
 

 And thickens. Something, almost chemical happens at this moment in the recipe and as you're stirring constantly, you can really feel it. Suddenly the mixture is no longer evaporated milk, but rather chocolate filling infused with the power of cornstarch to create the perfect consistency.

 Into the fridge for storage, overnight or 8 hours.

 To make the dough: Butter, water, and salt in a "diamond-texture" saucepan I bought from an infomercial and LOVE.


 After it comes to a boil it's time to add the flour.

 Again, chemistry takes over and a dough forms instantly and you're cooking it in the pot like it's a frying pan. As soon as you can see the dough curling away from the edges of the pot, you know it's done. Time for the mixer.
 

 Adding eggs.
  

More eggs.
 

 More eggs. Until it looks like a paste.

 I selected this recipe because of the specificity and precision of the way it is written. It says "scant 1/4 cupfuls of dough" and I actually measure and every time, I have exactly enough for 12 perfectly shaped balls.
 

 They smell like they're done 10 minutes in, but if you take them out they will fall. The full cook time ensures a stiff rise (teehee - 3rd grader giggle)

 I almost don't even want to cut them into halves.
 

 Next, in a sad turn of events, I scrape out all the tasty dough in the cavities. It's a little to raw and eggy looking for me to eat much of it, but it is tasty.

 Look at all those neatly lined cups just waiting to be filled.

 Refrigerated filling, where are you? Again the precision comes in, I measure out 1/3 cupfuls and it fills the cavities perfectly. I *always* have filling left over, I top-off any cups that don't have that perfect degree of over-stuffed-ness, but usually this is minimalist because that 1/3 cup measurement is so spot-on.

 It is at this point that my husband starts wanting to eat them, but they're not done yet. They still need the ganache drizzle.
 

 Made with evaporated milk, sugar and chocolate chips

 And topped with powdered sugar for a delectable dessert.

Now that's what I call snack-y happiness.

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

For the birthday of a co-worker which happened to fall on the same day as our organization’s Holiday social, I volunteered to make a baked good. I immediately steered toward the suggestion of cupcakes, and as I am new and do not know the co-worker well began both suggesting holiday flavors as well as asking for help selecting a flavor. Everyone was intrigued by my new favorite online cook, Annie Eat’s, and the sound of her Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes. So here I am recreating them:

I started with these quality ingredients:

I put all the dry ingredients, save the sugars, into a bowl. They seemed happy to be together:

After mixing, there was peace and love:

I joined the wet ingredients together in a heat-safe liquid measuring cup:

I put the sugars and butter into the mixer bowl:

And creamed them together:

Beautiful batter:

Then I added everything together to make a beautifully rich mocha batter:

I fill my cupcake wells very full because I just LOVE the way the cupcakes “muffin-top” over the sides of the (once festively beautiful) papers:

As they cooled, I set about to making the Swiss merengue buttercream icing. I started with these fine ingredients:

I set the mixer bowl in a pot of boiling water on the stovetop and used a food thermometer to ensure that they reached the appropriate temperature:

Then I whipped the heck out of them:

Then I added literally the most butter I’ve ever put in something:

There were about 400 comments on the original recipe and the corresponding pieces on Swiss merengue buttercream (or SMBC as Annie Eat’s calls it) about this either coming together perfectly or not coming together at all. As the original author of the recipe states, it is, like many a recipe, all about following the recipe and having patience. I had no problem getting a rich buttery icing:

I tried to create her rich swirled technique but was not using the best coloring. I have upgraded for the future and am eager to try out something else in need of vibrant icing. The mini candycanes really sold it for my co-workers. These were an instant hit:

YUM!