Peanut Butter Bread

In an effort to keep myself awake at night while I'm at work, I need projects.  When I get up at 5am to go to the gym, I work all day, and then my evenings are spent plunked in front of the tv or a book.

The problem is that I fall asleep - usually between 6 and 7.  But, if I manage to keep myself awake between 6 and 7, then I sleep between 7 and 8, or it's 8 and 9.  In order to get up at 5am (and not barf on myself from the pain of being awake at such an unearthly hour), I need to be asleep around 9pm or slightly after.

The best movie or book in the WORLD couldn't keep me awake.

I need options.  I need to move around - I DON'T need to spend a couple more hours in the gym - by 5 in the evening I've pretty much had it with physical activity.  And I spend 10 hours a day in front of a computer - who needs to spend an extra 3 in the evening?

So - I decided to bake.  The kitchen were I work is free in the evenings and.  well.  I am not likely to fall asleep sticking something in the oven.  And it would be an interesting day if I did.

Let me make some clarifications (excuses) for you before we move along to the recipe.  Or recipes as it would turn out to be.

1.  The oven is one of those big darn industrial jobs.  It has no temperature display, and no thermometer inside.  And it's gas.  Every oven is different and it's going to take me a couple of tries before I get it right.
2.  This is not my kitchen at home.  I want my kitchen tools so badly I can taste it.  Or maybe I just have to pee.
3.  There is no room for sub-par baked goods with the guys I work with.  Either it's perfect or you never live it down.

As I was looking through the recipes in my E-mail Recipe Box, I came across a Peanut Butter Bread recipe.  It's kind of the same idea as Banana Bread, but different.  And I thought - mmmm, that would be good!  It went in the pile.

The first night of baking was somewhat of a disaster.  I couldn't tell for sure what the temperature was set at and I just had to guess - besides the fact that I couldn't even tell if the oven was ON was also a problem. 

The bread seemed to come together well - but it was not terribly liquidy and I had to spread it in the pan as opposed to pouring it in the pan like the recipe said.  (On a side note - why has this suddenly become a theme for me?)  While I was putting it together, a couple of guys came in to see what I was up to and they were quite excited about the bread.... 

While it was baking, it smelled pretty good and I was pretty excited about it myself.

And when I pulled it out, the top had a lovely brown colour, even though a couple of bits were dark brown, at that point I wasn't worried.

Then I pulled the bread out of the pan.  The sides and bottom were CLEARLY over-browned.  But I let it cool and cut into it anyway.

Result: the edges and bottom were hard and tough, the inside edges of the bread were nicely done, but the middle was slightly under-cooked. 

There are no pictures of any of this since I left my camera behind, but then remembered a few days later that we have a camera here and I can use that one.  Working makes you forget things.

I thought about leaving it for our cook to sample in the morning, but after 5 minutes of humming and hawing about it while getting ready for bed, I returned to the kitchen (in my pyjamas) and tossed it in the garbage.

The next morning, one of the guys asked me where the bread went as he had slipped in to the kitchen after I went to bed.  He said he was disappointed that it was gone and figured I had hidden it somewhere.  He was sad to find out it didn't work out.

That evening I tried something else (read my post about White Chocolate Brownies), but the Peanut Butter Bread had turned into an obsession.  I pulled a couple more recipes off the internet and headed back into the kitchen for a "Best Of" round.

And in order to help me with the temperature issue - I ordered a couple of oven thermometers from a supplier and insisted they needed to make our grocery plane that day.  Cause I can do that.

It was ON - I was going to master this bread or be instituted into a padded room.  My failures of late have been making me crazy and I can't figure out the heck is going on!

I had a "Best Of" challenge and baked up four different recipes.  And bless my heart I figured they were perfect.  But only one out of three were baked all the way through the top center.  For whatever reason - along the top center of three loaves was totally undercooked!  Weird right?  I just can't figure it out.

I wrangled one of my guys to be a guinea pig (this was well before I realized I had an under-cooked issue) and we cut into the four loaves.  Now - on all four loaves, this part was perfectly cooked - so we had four wonderful pieces to try. 

Here are the results: 
Two of the loaves turned out quite heavy and dense - but not without a lovely peanut butter flavour.  I wasn't really in love with the prep on these loaves, and I knew they'd be really dense because the "batter" wasn't really a batter, it was more like a cookie dough and I had to press it into the pans.

The third loaf rose beautifully, it was nice and moist and had terrific texture, and while I was eating it, it kinda stuck to my mouth just like I was eating a spoonful of peanut butter.  Oh really - we're all friends here - everyone's done it, don't be shy.  So that loaf was a definite contender for the top spot. 

But then we broke into the fourth loaf.  It was so light and fluffy and moist I almost died.  It has a mild peanut butter flavour that's just perfect.

That was my definite winner and I will make it again at home to see if I have the same issues.  (Seriously - what the heck is going ON!)

This is the Cane Girl - signing off.

Cupcakes A to Z: Angel Food Cupcakes

Ever since the beginning of this project, all those ages ago, I've dreaded the Angel Food section. 

I've dreaded it because I've heard over and over that Angel Food is a real challenge and not for the faint of heart.  So, in preparation - I watched all kinds of videos, read articles, read blogs, etc so that I would know what to look for.  And because I have a tendency to get myself all freaked out - I decided just to follow the recipes and maybe I would have been surprised.

And now - I can honestly say that all I've heard is TRUE. 

The "Angel Food Day" was the biggest bust I've ever had in the kitchen (except for that time when I was 17 and gave myself food poisoning after consuming undercooked chicken burgers - you know those frozen ones that you bake and then eat?  Yeah.  Ick.)

I had four recipes to try - and then I ended up making the executive decision to cut out one of the recipes because it was exactly like another one in the list, but less two egg whites. 

So the first batch.  I thought it went pretty well.  And figured it would just work out.

It didn't.  My "cupcakes" came out in the shape of 1/2 inch disks.  Not light and fluffy and wonderful Angel Food as we know it.

The second batch I had higher hopes for.  And probably would have maybe worked out, but I wasn't sure how much batter to put in the cups and wound up again with little discus pucks.  Nope.  Not Angel Food.

The third batch I had the highest hopes for.  And because my brain went all screwy from two fails, I really made sure those liners were FULL.  And they looked like they were done when I pulled them out.  DEFINITELY. NOT.  But the top was all golden and lovely.

And really - I don't think I can blame the recipes on this one.  Especially when 3 out of 3 are a major fail - it's definitely my inexperience.

So sadly - I have no Angel Food cupcake recipe to add to my repetoire today.  Maybe in the future I'll come back to it and see if I can make it work.

The only GOOD thing that came out of today is that I know I can make meringue!  Look out Lemon Meringue Pie!

This is the Cane Girl - signing off.

Creamy Shrimp Soup

This isn't actually the name of this recipe - but I thought it was somewhat more appropriate.

It has butter, cream cheese, green onions, cream of potato soup, shrimp, corn, and milk in it. 

Did you feel your arteries just harden?  I did.

So you start out by melting together the cream cheese and the butter, then you add in the green onions and simmer for 15 minutes.

Man it smelled so so good.  And this is the part where I thought it was going to be something special.

Then you add in the cream of potato soup and the corn and simmer for 15 minutes more.

At this point I realized that it might not be something special.
After that you stir in the milk - the recipe says to add more milk until it reaches your desired consistency.

Then add in the shrimp - heat through and serve.

Because I halved the recipe, I thought about using a whole 1/2 cup of milk, but didn't get there because I still like my soups thick.

And I was totally and completely prepared to be blown away by this soup and give up all other soups for this one.

And honestly?  It was kind of bland.  I added salt and pepper to my bowl - but it didn't seem to help.  It definitely needs some help - but I wanted to base my review and opinion on the recipe as written.

I wouldn't make it again.  I didn't even finish my bowl....  Blech.  (My dinner was a cupcake.  For realz)

I guess they can't all be winners.

You can tell by my lack of enthusiasm how much I enjoyed it hey?
This is the Cane Girl - signing off.

Cupcakes A to Z: Amaretto Cupcakes

My very first boozy cupcake!  I was very excited about this one.

And the recipe where it came from I decided to just simplify and change up a little bit.  Kate from Grin and Bake it took a chocolate cupcake recipe, cut a well into it, and filled it with cherries soaked in Amaretto and a little bit of buttercream.  She then topped it with an Amaretto buttercream.

So I took the chocolate cupcake recipe that I had made before, but I subbed in a tablespoon of Amaretto in the milk.  To be perfectly honest - you could NOT taste the Amaretto in the cupcake - which I sort of knew would happen, but decided just to roll with it anyway.

And then to the buttercream.  At first I was pretty hesitant because there isn't a ton of butter in it.  And it seemed like it wouldn't come together, then the heavy cream went in - and it came together beautifully!

So after all that is said and done, you add in a tablespoon of Amaretto.  Of course, I like to taste-test.  But I couldn't taste the Amaretto.  I added in more Amaretto, but it still couldn't taste it.  And I decided it would have to do.  I also coloured the buttercream a light pink just to dress it up.

I WAS somewhat disappointed.  The POINT is to really taste the Amaretto.  And while I was thinking about it, I thought that maybe if I made a reduction and then added the Amaretto that way it might work.  And then I was reading Heather at Sprinkle Bakes post about her Chianti Chocolate Cupcakes and she did a reduction of Chianti and the added additional Chianti from the bottle.  So I think my idea would work.  Eventually I'll try it Heather B's way and see if it works!

But in the end - the cupcake was decadant, the buttercream was wonderful so I don't have too much to complain about.

And I will try to make it again....

This is the Cane Girl - signing off.