As you know, Kelly from Evil Shenanigans was my baking slave on Friday. We made enough cookies that I took some home. I wanted to have something there that said..”Hey this cookbook is awesome, just taste this!” So, with that in mind we made sugar cookies, chai chocolate snowballs, and snickerdoodles. Someone did decide to buy the book on the basis of one bite of the chai chocolate snowballs- Just sayin’.

I had gotten there a little early to set up and was nervous that noone was going to show up. My really good friend, Marc, was there for moral support and to keep my coffee cup filled from the Starbucks and keep me in ice. I was so nervous I swear you could hear my teeth chattering from Chicago and I chew more ice than normal when I am nervous. So I was going between the coffee and the ice, back and forth. At one point, being the graceful person that I am, I knocked to coffee over and it splattered on a couple of the books. ARGH!

Kelly was the one that took these pictures. I so appreciated all her help and moral support! Seriously this old guy tried to pick her up. She is cute and all but that was really weird! I think I was too old for him to be interested. He finally disappeared after about two drivebys with his walker. (o.k…he didn’t really have a walker – but it sounded good.)

Here I am looking very writerly, don’t you think? I did not plan to wear a sweater that matched the gold on the book cover. It just happened. Pinkie Swear. Even I am not that OCD.

Here are Alice, and Donna and me. I could post this image of me on the “I need plastic surgery desperately” board. Ya think if I sent it to Oprah she would foot the bill?

Actually signing a book. So exciting. I got so flustered a few times I forgot how to spell my name.

Erin and Bells showed up for a little while. I will tell you, I was so blessed by the people that came to support me! Erin, Tanya, Miss Jo, Janis, Alice, Donna, Kelly and Mark, Ms. Kelly’s Mom, Terry, and especially Marc who sat through the whole thing most patiently…. You guys ROCK. It was a literal party.

If you are in the Dallas area and want a signed book the Barnes and Noble at Uptown in Cedar Hill has some because I signed extras. If they run out…let me know and I’ll meet you and sign it anyway.

images: Evil Shenanigans used by permission

Post from: Baking Delights

• BittersweetFlourless Chocolate Chili Cake with Salted Caramel Gelato
• Chocolate Salami
• Layered Party Dip
• Toasted Pecan Eggnog Ring
• White Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Toffee Slice
• Mini Snowball Cupcakes
• Viennese Striesel
• Pistachio Cranberry Biscotti
• Butterscotch Cornflake Candy (addictive!)

image: Evil Shenanigans, used with permission

Post from: Baking Delights

The face behind Evil Shenanigans...Pure evil I tell ya....

First of all, she doesn’t live too far from me and we get together, although not nearly enough. When I was telling her I wanted to do cookies for the book signing she offered to become my cooking slave. Seriously. Those were her exact words. I would prefer oompa loompas but Kelly is a little too tall..she sings great though.

Messy kitchen... it is Kelly's fault

We had a blast. Or I did. Kelly did most of the work. She brought her cookie sheets and her tool box…and she created magic in my kitchen. I fed her of course. We had talked about a worm risotto (yeah we did..if you don’t follow me on twitter you will miss a lot of these remarks..so remedy that soon) but I did a artichoke and spinach risotto instead. She took some pictures with her way awesome and amazing camera and I will lift those from her and post the recipe later. Oh my gosh! It was so good!

My kids love Kelly and they sought to entertain her at every turn. They can be very entertaining anyway but add a new audience to the list and they go out of their way to be interesting. Thanks guys.

We made sugar cookies, chai snowballs, and snickerdoodles from the book. I did learn a few things on the way…

1. It is important to always start with flour when making cookies

2. It is important to do what the authors tells you to do…even if you are the author.

3. Butter flavor crisco is NOT as good as butter no matter what Sandra Lee and Alton Brown say.

We decided that we needed our own cooking shows. Food Network, are you listening? Because you are missing out on some incredible talent over here!  We all ready know that France is not the city of lights!!!!

So..I am going to head out to the book signing…I am looking forward to meeting a lot of you. I will be back later for the regular post.

images: marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

The cake doesn’t really soak up the sauce… it is more like the sauce swathes the cake in a rich, sticky blanket of yumminess. Between the hot sauce, the crunchy pecans, and the velvety cake you have a major  convention of flavor and texture going on in your mouth.

If you cook it a little less (like I will next time) you will also have the gooey middles of the cakes. I am not sure that you can find something a whole lot better for the time and effort it takes to make these (hardly any). You can start them just before you serve the main course and have them on the table by the time the bread is gone. Seriously. This one’s a keeper.

Make these in muffin cups that have been sprayed with baking spray or individual custard cups.

Chocolate Cakes with Praline Sauce

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup dark cocoa
• pinch of kosher salt
• 12 oz chocolate, chopped. Mix bittersweet, dark, semisweet, or milk in any combination.
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, melt one and allow to become golden brown
• 4 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Melt the chocolate and the one stick of butter together, whisking often
3. Remove from heat and add the browned butter
4. Sift the dry ingredients together three times
5. Beat the eggs and yolks until light
6. Beat in the sugar
7. Carefully whisk in the chocolate and butter combination
8. Divide between 8-10 muffin cups
9. Bake for 12 minutes (gooey) or 15 minutes (moist and rich)
10. Cool for no more than 2-3 minutes and unmold onto dessert plates

Praline Sauce

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 tbs heavy cream
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup pecans, toasted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Melt the butter, salt, and brown sugar together until no longer grainy, stirring often.
2. Add the cream and stir well
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla
4. Sprinkle pecans over the cakes and pour the warm syrup over all

Makes 8-10 servings

images: marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

From iVillage:

We’ve got recipes for every occasion imaginable. In celebration of our Food re-launch, we are having an iVillage Recipe Contest on Facebook.

Submit a quick and easy recipe for a chance to win up to $1,000 in groceries! The contest begins now and ends January 17th, 2010. A panel of qualified judges will select three (3) finalists based on the following judging criteria:

• Originality (25%)
• Creativity (50%)
• Length of time in which it takes to prepare and cook the recipe (25%).

Then Top Chef’s Carla Hall will prepare each of the finalists’ recipes and select one (1) winner based on the same criteria listed above.

To enter the iVillage Recipe Contest, follow these two easy steps:

• Become a fan of the official iVillage Facebook Page.
• Click on the contest tab and upload a photo of your best quick and easy recipe.

The prizes awarded will be as follows:

• One (1) Grand Prize Winner will receive a $1,000 gift certificate to a local grocery store located in his or her residential area.
• Two (2) Runner-up Winners will each receive a $500 gift certificate to a local grocery store located in his or her residential area

image: iVillage, used by permission

Post from: Baking Delights

I love broccoli and cheese soup. This particular version started because I saw some chipotle cheddar cheese at the local grocers. Hmm..chipotle cheddar? I am in! I originally thought i was going to make macaroni and cheese with it but when the intense need for something quick for dinner hit I went with a gut instinct, a head of broccoli and a bottle of Guinness.

Add a good bread and some fruit for dessert and you have the makings of a winter warming meal.

You can vary the beer to vary the flavor of this soup. It certainly can’t be described as delicate! The sharp smokey cheese mixes with the beer to create its own personal magic. The broccoli is merely a stunt man in this. You could use roasted peppers, cauliflower, or leave the vegetables out completely. It’s totally up to you. For one of my favorite meals just add some beer battered onion rings to the side.

Guinness Broccoli Chipotle Cheese Soup

• 3 cups half and half
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 8 oz beer
• 1 head of broccoli, chopped and steamed until tender
• One onion, chopped and sauteed
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 lb of chipotle cheddar, shredded
• 2 tbs chipotle in adobo, mashed
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cheddar for garnish

1. Simmer cream, half and half, beer, cumin, onion, and chipotle until the sauce reduces slightly and flavors meld, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the broccoli and salt and pepper. Simmer 15 more minutes, stirring often.
3. Taste and adjust seasonings.
4. Sprinkle with cheddar and serve hot.

Serves 6  to 8

Now you can feel comfortable in changing amounts to suit your own needs. Just try it!

image: marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

But…here it is and I am giving it another try. I like letting you know what is coming up and I like being able to keep track of what I am supposed to be posting. So, here goes in no particular order -

• Guinness Chipotle Cheese and Broccoli Soup
• Mini Chocolate Cakes with Pecan Praline Sauce
• Peanut Brittle
• A Review of Muddy Dog Roaster’s new roasted cornmeal and roasted corn grits
• Roasted Portobello  with Caramelized Onion Ravioli

I am also going to try to do some cookies and appetizers too.  Stay tuned …

Oh….and have an awesome weekend!

image: marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

And this right here is one of the numerous reasons I will not give up, give in, or give out to a lousy attitude, empty wallet, or pure D. exhaustion. This is my almost 9  month old grandaughter, Bells. Short for Isabella Jordan.

I am determined to pick up the pace this next week. I have been falling behind in posts and articles and my house looks like  a tornado hit it AFTER a tsumnami and a hurricane blew through. Seriously.

So where are you and how are you in your Christmas preparations? Whatever point you are at you need to stop, take a deep breath and remember what Christmas really is all about.

Ready for some blogsurfing?

1. Crank it up with Bon Appetit blog and their Baking Play List. Need some tunes to stir by? Here they are.
2. Lori’s Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies
3. Judy’s Pecan Lace Sandwich Cookies with Orange Buttercream
4. Smores Cheesecake Bars
5. What Does Eating Local Really Mean?
6. YeastSpotting: Holiday Edition
7. Chocolate Caramel Bars
8. Candy Cane Macarons
9. Awesome gift idea, The Blogger Aid Cookbook
10. Make your own Marzipan

thats it for this week! I am in just under the wire. It is still Saturday in Texas, folks.

image: Erin Audet Myers, collection of Marye Audet

Post from: Baking Delights

I grilled the chicken long enough to get grill marks and rubbed it with a beer-honey-chipotle mixture. I put it in the oven at 350F and then worked on the compote.

The finished product was excellent. The flavors mingled well and the beer added an extra earthiness that I really liked. Use a honeycrisp or granny smith apple for this. You want the flavor to be able to hold up to the beer.

I used chicken breast but you could use a split chicken or cut up chicken. It really is versatile. I suspect that it would do as well with pork.

• 8 chicken breasts
• 1/3 cup strong honey (like organic buckwheat)
• 1 tbs mashed chipotle in adobo
• 1/2 lemon squeezed into mixture
• 1/4 cup Guinness Stout
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 honey crisp apples, washed and chopped – not peeled
• 1 purple onion, chopped
• Remainder of the bottle of beer
• 4 tbs of unsalted  butter
• 1 canned chipotle chopped (more if desired)

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Oil a grill pan and preheat it lay chicken on it to establish grill marks; turn once
3. Simmer honey, 1 tbs chipolte,  1/4 cup Guinness, and lemon until reduced and thickened slightly – about 10 minutes. Glaze chicken with mixture and place in oven. plan on cooking until 180F is reached, about 30 to 40 minutes depending on the chicken.
4. Meanwhile saute onion, remaining chipotle, and chopped apple in 2 tbs  butter in a pan until tender.
5. Pour in the remaining Guinness and simmer until the mixture is reduced to a juicy compote.
6. Stir in remaining 2 tbs butter
7. About 15 minutes before chicken is done remove it from oven and spoon compote over it.
8. Return to oven to finish cooking.

Serves 8

images : Marye Audet

Post from: Baking Delights

I like sticky brownies not cakey ones. They have to be intensely chocolate. They have to cause your tastebuds to jumping around and screaming for milk or coffee. They absolutely have to be worth eating. Seriously!

The trick to really intense chocolate brownies is the darkest cocoa powder you can find. Cocoa gives a much richer flavor than melting chocolate and adding it, however in these you are going to use both. Yep. And then… ready? You are going to add toasted pecans (remember that the toasting intensifies the flavor…)  AND chocolate chips…AND white chocolate chips.

In a sugar coma yet?

These are fantastic. I think they will keep for several days… I say think because honestly they have never lasted more than an hour or two here. You can’t use the toothpick method to test these and see if they are done. In order to maintain the complete awesomeness that they are these brownies will always test raw.  Just follow the cooking time, and then cool them in the fridge long enough for them to set.  You can top them with ganache if you like extra chocolate.

Toasted Pecan Brownies

• 3/4 c unsalted butter-melted and allowed to brown
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c flour
• 1/2 c cocoa (the darkest you can find…do not substitute baking chocolate)
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chopped and melted in 2 tbs heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 c chopped pecans, toasted in a 375F oven for 5 minutes. Watch carefully!
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Cream sugar, melted butter, and chocolate until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. beat well. add flavorings.
2. Stir in dry ingredients, nuts, white chocolate chips, and chocolate chips
3. Spread into a greased 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Leave slightly under done.
4. Allow to cool long enough for the center to set.

Makes 12 or so depending on how big you cut them.

Post from: Baking Delights