Sugar & Spice by Celeste

***The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking . They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home, and Baking Obsession . Well, I am one day late in posting my Daring Bakers results this month.  I know, I know...Shame on me! However, you know what they say...Better late than never!  Because of time restraints this month, I had decided that I might have to skip the Tiramisu recipe.  But, I've always loved this classic Italian dessert, so I decided to make it at the last minute.  I have to say that this recipe is wonderful!  I found myself licking the zabaglione/pastry cream mixture right out of the bowl!  I used coffee instead of the marsala, because Brad and I are such big coffee lovers.  I know what you're thinking...WOW...This recipe seems really daunting!  However, yo...

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen . Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and http://www.nanaimo.ca/ . There hasn't been a month yet, where I wasn't excited about the Daring Bakers' Challenge. This month was no exception. This Canadian treat...the Nanaimo Bar...was much easier to make than previous challenges, and they taste amazing. I especially LOVED the bottom layer, with the coconut, homemade graham crackers, and almonds....So good! The hardest part of this recipe was making the graham crackers from scratch. Yes, the dough is a little fussy and not the easiest to work with (because it's a very wet dough), but they are totally doable. I did not make the gluten free version, so I used regular ole' all purpose flour instead. Once the graham crackers are finished, this recipe is easy peasy! However, if you wanted to make...

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi . They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes. I love this time of the month, because it's Daring Bakers time!! I was super excited when I found out our challenge this month...baking a gingerbread house...from scratch! I was especially excited to get to work, because I had to miss last month's challenge. We were given 2 recipes to select from. I chose the recipe from Good Housekeeping magazine. It sounded pretty traditional and none of the ingredients were too exotic...most of them were already sitting in my pantry and fridge. I really didn't have any major problems with the dough. My only obstacle was the fact that the dough needed a few extra tablespoons of cream in order to help it come together...

Vanilla Chai Macarons: Mocha Macarons: ***The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe. Wow...this has been a busy month! Between my birthday on October 7th, learning to speak French, and making several batches of macarons...it's been a fun few weeks! Being the francophile that I am, I was absolutely thrilled to learn that the Daring Bakers were going to tackle the ever-elusive French Macaron this month...You might remember my earlier attempts to master macarons. The first time that I tried was very un-impressive...definitely nothing to write home about, haha. The SECOND ATTEMPT turned out much better! I was actually proud of those. Pumpkin Spice Latte Macaron: I've learned several little tricks that always come in handy and seem to result in better macarons: 1. Age your egg whites either at room temperature overnight, or in the fridge for ...

Vol-Au-Vents with Crab, Avocado, Tomato and Lime Salad Vol-Au-Vents with Chocolate & Frangelico Flavored Whipped Cream + Fresh Strawberries ***The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon . She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan. We were given the chance to select our own filling recipes this month, which I loved. I made both a sweet and savory version. My fillings included (recipes are at the bottom of this post): 1. Crab, Avocado, Tomato and Lime Salad 2. Chocolate & Frangelico Flavored Whipped Cream with Fresh Strawberries & Blackberries The Crab Salad was incredible. It had a wonderfully fresh flavor. The sweet version was equally delicious...especially with the addition of Frangelico. That just sent it over the top! Homemade puff pastry is enough to make most people run for cover. It involves massive amounts of butte...

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonfulof Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella . They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: ExquisiteDesserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. ***It's that time again! This month's challenge was none other than a fabulous Dobos Torte...a five layer sponge cake that's filled with a decadent chocolate buttercream and topped off with a beautiful display of wedges coated with caramel. Sounds yummy, right? This particular cake was invented in 1885 by a man named Jozsef C. Dobos...a Hungarian baker. The recipe was kept under lock and key until Dobos retired in 1906, at which point it was finally shared. Boy, am I glad this recipe is not still a closely guarded secret. The taste was fabulous! The steps to make this cake are numerous...it took several hours just to complete the cake. That's one reason I'm so proud to b...

***The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth . She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network . Homemade marshmallows are one of those things that I've wanted to try for such a long time, but I have just not gotten around to it...and have not mustered up the courage! That's why I was so excited to see the July DB Challenge. I couldn't put it off any longer!! The process was both really fun and neat! I enjoyed this challenge and actually can't wait to make these again. I didn't have any major snafus, and I was pretty happy with the results. The process of making marshmallows is pretty involved (but not too difficult!), and it was fun making sure each step was done just right. I tried to really take my time with this challenge. After adding the chocolate glaze to my first cookie, I realized that my chocolate was too hot...the fact that the marshmallow started to melt ...