Mascarpone Cheese & Chocolate Danishes - Recipe # 10

I found this light, elegant recipe while watching Giada De Laurentiis's cooking show.  It was one of her favorites while she was in culinary school. I would have to agree that it is super yummy. I did a quick cheat  and bought the pastry dough (her suggestion), so I didn't have to spend hours making my own. The filling was a mixture of vanilla, egg yolk, sugar, mascarpone & cream cheese, and mini chocolate chips. The pastry was light, flaky, and thinly layered. It complimented the cream cheese and chocolate inside. It was so tasty, and might I add, pretty to look at. 

 

 

Chocolate Raspberry Cake - Recipe # 9

This cake was easy to bake and assemble because it was a cake mix from the box. Katie and I used Duncan Hines products for the most part. If you like strawberries and chocolate, then you'll like raspberries and chocolate too! It took two boxes of cake mix, 1 1/2 whipped chocolate icing, two 9" and two 6" baking pans, 2 1/2 boxes of rolled wafers, and as many raspberries as I wanted to use. I put the wafers on the night before it was eaten, they did get moist but not soggy, they stayed in place really well. It was also kept in the fridge overnight.

Monkey Bread- Recipe #8

This was the first time I've made monkey bread. It turned out great! It was a sweet bread recipe like the kind you'd use for cinnamon rolls. The recipe actually made more than it said it would. The best time to eat it is of course, as soon as it cools down a bit.

Banana Bread -Recipe #7

Grandma Alice's famous banana bread. This is my absolute favorite banana bread recipe.  I prefer no nuts, others like the chopped nuts. It's sweet, flavorful, heavy like pound cake, and it melts in your mouth. This is my 7th "posted" recipe.  I have a couple orders to fill, so don't worry, I didn't forgot you and I'll make you something soon! My next new recipe will be your surprise! What I'm going to do is change my rating options below, that way, whomever the taste testers may be can just click their rating (I'm looking for feedback). I'm ready for tomorrow, it's not a new recipe but my sis is coming over to make eclairs with me. Good times!

Creating a Successful Business Plan

I'm not certain yet of the whole bakery business yet.  A show that I've became slightly addicted to is the "Cake Boss." It's about an Italian bakery, "Carlo's Bakery" in Hoboken, NJ. It's and older show, but it's got some pretty impressive bakers.  It's definitely a little dramatic because it's a reality show, but none the less, it's reveals what goes on behind the scenes in a bakery.
      One of the things to do before opening a business is research, also writing your own business plan.  Since I don't have any experience in doing so; I'm eventually going to take a $95 course at the local community college, unless I can find a free seminar somewhere. If you're curious:  http://www.ed2go.com/lewisandclark/online_course/cbp/detail/Creating_a_Successful_Business_Plan.html.

Chocolate Eclairs- Recipe #6

Who likes chocolate eclairs!!!???  We do!  I'm ashamed to say that this was the first time I've ever made these yummy little bites. Majority of the ingredients were eggs, flour, butter, and sugar, all the basics, even the homemade cream filling had mostly basics.  I actually made two cream filling recipes and used two different icings, then sent them off with my boyfriend to his place of work for some extreme taste testing and critiquing; this way I could get ratings on which recipe was better. They preferred the eclairs with the milk chocolate icing, I personally liked the semi-sweet icing..........

The Pastry Dough

 

Baked Pastries

Eclairs With Milk Chocolate Icing

Eclairs With Semi-sweet Chocolate Icing

Cherry Pie- Recipe #5

This was a cherry pie I made. Quite delicious, the down fall was that canned cherry filling is NO-WHERE as good as fresh cherries, it didn't have that sweet, tangy, zing to it. I was definitely spoiled with fresh fruits on the farm.  I'll have to wait and buy fresh cherries, or at least buy frozen cherries next time.  I was impressed with the crust on this one.  I was able to roll it without tearing it. I used 1/2 cup of Crisco and 1/4 cup of butter for the crust. I was also able to make more crust this way, it was much easier to roll out.