Chocolate Walnut Brownies [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Chocolate Walnut Brownies, was chosen by Tiffany of A Spoonful & a Heap.

They were super delicious and fudgy. I really enjoyed them and so did my friend who came from Southern California to visit for her orientation here at Cal. We certainly had fun while visiting SF.

slideshow | Viewer

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

North Fork Peach Raspberry Pie [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, North Fork Peach Raspberry Pie, was chosen by Rebecca of Beurrista.

It was a pretty quick make, but it was a bit harder to find tapioca pearls, but I just subbed them with flour. I also changed the proportions of raspberry to peach. I didn't have enough peaches, so I just added more raspberries. It was delicious!

I might have kept it in the oven for a bit too long. I'm still trying to get used to the new oven at my new place.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Chestnut Honey Madeleines [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Chestnut Honey Madeleines, was chosen by Debbie of Café Chibita.

It was delicious and really easy to make. Sorry for the short blogpost, but I've been moving so therefore it's been crazy busy.

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

Coconut Custard Pie [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Coconut Custard Pie, was chosen by Ruby of I Dream of Baking. This is the first recipe I've made in a while since I've been busy with ice cream cupcakes. I apologize to Tess and Carmen, but I hope that I can make those recipes soon! Now that I'm on "vacation" in Southern California, I don't exactly know how much I'll be baking. I should be back in Berkeley by the first full week of June - I got to start moving into my new apartment a couple blocks from my current one.

This pie was made on the same day the Pina Colada cupcakes were made. I used the same whipped cream and topped it off with some toasted coconut.

I actually don't know how it tasted because at the party, everyone had the cupcakes, but no pie. I hope that everyone else tasted their pie and hope it was amazing!

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

Mango Bread with Cinnamon-Rum-Strawberry Glaze [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Sweet Potato Bread with Cinnamon-Rum-Orange Glaze, was chosen by Lorelei of Mermaid Sweets. I instead made it with Mangoes and Strawberry.

I ended up using canned mangoes found in the grocery store. At first, I thought they tasted a bit weird out of the can, but it tasted fine when it came out of the oven.

I first pureed one can of mangoes and the other can, I chopped up and put it into the batter itself. It gave it two different ways of getting mango.

As for the glaze on top, I made it with strawberry juice and Puerto Rican rum. It was pretty good except for the fact the glaze was kind of too sticky or something. It was great regardless.

I had made this and Thin Mint cupcakes for the Bake sale. The next couple [or a lot] of pictures are from the Bake Sale on Saturday! Enjoy. [we made $1650 for charity!]

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

Chocolate Malted Layer Cake [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Chocolate Malted Layer Cake, was chosen by Nicole of Sweet Tooth. This was such a wonderful pick. My friends loved it immensely.

I brought them to my son's first committee meeting. Now, if you're wondering why I have a family at 20 and my son's old enough to have committee meetings, you're right. I'm not old enough to have kids that old. It would be quite weird in a normal family to have your kids be about 2 years younger than you...and some kids older, but alas, that's Circle K for you.

So the family system as I'm sure I have explained before is a way to get members to come out more often to things and my "husband" and I try to make things as fun as possible. We go out to eat and explore Berkeley as much as possible. We try to bring personal aspect to the club where you can bond with people within your family [and outside] but it brings the club to a smaller level where people can feel comfortable with.

While on the topic of community service, I try to do as much as I can without ruining my time for school and what not. One project that I have taken on is the National Food Bloggers Bake Sale happening in 1 week. I know that other SMSers are baking for their state and part of the country, but I wanted to promote the one I will be baking for.

If you are in the Bay Area, please come out and support us!
I will be making Thin Mint cupcakes and next week's SMS. I may be making even more so come out and support the cause!

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

PS. Starting at Sunday [4/11/10 at 12:00am PST], for each comment I get, I will donate $.25 to Share our Strength. I will count all the comments until 11:59 Friday 4/16/10. Being a college student, I will not be donating over $100. SORRY!

Double-Crusted Caramel Pear Pie [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Double-Crusted Caramel Apple Pie, was chosen by Susan of Baking with Susan.

I decided to use pears instead because somehow I still had a whole bunch in the fridge so I thought I would make use of it. But since I didn't have enough pears, I decided to add one apple in there. I also used two premade pie crusts. I knew that I would have no time between making last week's SMS and the MSC and this week's SMS. It just made sense to me.

I made these for an interfamily social at a friend's house on Pi Day. I just made sense to me that I would make a pie for Pi day! At the social, I finally had my first taste of poutine which is like a Canadian version of cheese fries with gravy and cheese on top of French fries. That and mole. I love my friends and the food we always end up having. We just ended up eating most of the night. FUN STUFF!

Sorry for no picture of the pie cut open. I forgot my camera and forgot to make someone take it for me! So it's not the most beautiful pie on the outside, but it was delicious.

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

PS. my spring break started 3 days ago, so I'll be baking lots this week to celebrate the end of the Circle K year and also a break from school! I'm looking for a good, easy cookie recipe. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section!

Carrot Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, was chosen by Julie of A Little Bit of Everything. I knew that I needed something amazing for a murder mystery dinner that I was going to, so I decided to make this cake into a bundt cake. It would be pretty easy to get everyone a piece at the reception along with the Lemon Meringue Cupcakes that I made.

This week was definitely really stressful. First, I had two midterms, one on Tuesday, the next on Wednesday. Then, I had somehow crashed my computer and I stayed up until about 5am to get Windows 7 from a friend. In addition, the next day I went over and stayed until about 2 - which isnt bad - to get Microsoft Office and all that. It's just been a hassle with my computer lately.

Everyone had told me that it was a wonderful and very nice carrot cake. I was unable to taste it since I had 2 ice cream sandwiches already by the time I had gotten to the cake. Everyone seemed to have really enjoyed it!

I made the original recipe for the cake, with this cream cheese glaze.

Recipe:

3oz of cream cheese, room temperature

3 T of milk

3 T of powdered sugar

Just mix all the ingredients together, until smooth. Add milk or powdered sugar to get to the consistency you want.

The Murder Mystery Dinner: at the Wedding Reception has been worked on by the Kiwanis Family committee of UC Berkeley Circle K for the past couple of weeks. We put together a plotline and characters. It was super fun to act and be someone different for a night. I was the angry drunk ex-girlfriend to the groom. We had gone out during our time at business school at Columbia. He was the only guy to ever dump me so I'm very bitter towards him. It was just fun to get dressed up and play something that I'm definitely not. I love my boyfriend, but it's fun to pretend! It was hilarious though, somehow throughout the night, everyone thought that I was pregnant which definitely was not a part of the plotline. I had a fun time Friday night, even though it is not the typical college Friday night.

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

Roasted Walnut Cake with Guava Caramel FAIL [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Roasted Pecan Cake with Caramel Orange Marmalade and Burnt Orange Buttercream, was chosen by Leslie of Lethally Delicious.

This would have been a delicious recipe, if it was actually finished. I had made the cake with walnuts...and not crushed because I have no food processor, so whole chopped pieces of walnuts. The cake turned out fine. Also, I had made the caramel part of the orange marmalade and and splashed some guava juice in it instead.

The frosting is where it went all wrong. Somehow nothing went right. The guava juice wasn't becoming syrupy enough. The sugar was too soft. The butter was too cold. The frosting was just a huge failure, but not only that, the whole job searching thing is hard. I've sent out about 20 resumes, and no responses at all - not even a no thank you. It's getting to me, but I'm still looking for stuff. If anyone knows of something I can in the Bay area, or in the LA area, please let me know. I think that any job right now would be appreciated.

Also during this week, I have decided that I do want to start my own business - a cupcake business. Maybe mini tarts too! Name has yet to be decided, and it'll probably be order only for now. Maybe I'll do a storefront. I'll think about it all during this month! I'll decide before everything's done.

Sorry, Leslie, they just turned out so bad that I just didnt want to photograph them. Hopefully everyone else's faired a lot better than mine!

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

Sugar Cookies [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Sugar Cookies, was chosen by ME! This is my first time hosting anything really so I'm super excited!

I had originally wanted to do the wonderful red velvet cake, but that was taken already, but I thought this cookie/pie crust would be very versatile and fun for everyone. The sugar cookie itself is not very tasty, but I think that with all the decorations on top, it's quite fun and exciting.

I had first made these into cookies for my friend's New Year's Party. I had made them into a beautiful snowflake shape and then decorated them with royal icing. [I decided to try some effects out!]

Then, I was going to make these again but in pie form. I had run out of time before the publishing date with all the midterms, internship/job finding, and me being sick. It's just been a busy time for me. I think that the school year was a pretty bad time for me to host, but I was fun regardless!

Sugar Cookies/Sweet Pie Crust
from Sweet Melissa's Baking Book [pg. 142-143]

14 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 Cup sugar

Freshly grated zest of 1/2 lemon

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

To make the dough:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, zest and salt until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and mix to combine.

3. Add the flour and mix to combine. Be sure to scrape down the bowl.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Pat it together into one piece. Divide the dough into two equal parts, flatten into 5-in round disks, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Put what you will use today in the fridge, and the rest (if there is any) goes into the freezer for another time. Chill for at least 45 minutes before rolling.

To roll the dough:

1. When the dough is chilled through, remove it from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes, until it is malleable. Lightly flour a work surface. Begin with one dough disk, lightly flour the top, and, using a rolling pin, press gently on the dough from the middle upward, and then middle downward. Turn the dough disk a quarter turn and repeat the light pressing process. Add more flour if needed to prevent sticking.

2. The dough should be a round, flatter version of the original disk. Now either you can use it to make cookies or the pie crust.

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

ps. since I promised those photoshoot pictures for a long time, here they are! First individual ones, then a couple between my co-family head and I, then the family ones!