TWD: Bagels (Hey look guys, I'm on time!)

Look! I made my bagels early AND I remembered to post! This is crazy. Honestly, I wish I could just bake everything but school always makes it so, so hard. x.x university and baking just don't get along, y'know? I can't wait until I graduate in three years and go to Le Cordon Bleu for patisserie. Tons of blogging about baking and stuffs then! (: Anyway, bagels.

 I actually still have troubles uploading pictures from my phone onto my computer, so this is actually from my instagram post that I made of the bagels back then.. Anyway, they were delicious. I'm not sure if they were supposed to keep rising in the fridge but they did for me, which was kinda stressful cause the dough wanted to flow over the sides while I was at school .. I'm not actually too sure how long I boiled them for, either, but they turned out great. My mom put them in a container a little early since it was getting late by the time I was done baking them so they were a little damp the next morning but they were still great with cream cheese after a little toasting.

definitely making these again (: If you want the recipe, check out the book, "Baking with Julia" by Dorie Greenspan or go to our host's blog! Also, see other posts on the Tuesdays With Dorie website.

aanyway, time to get back to studying for physiology.

happy baking!
Mayy.

Biscotti! (super late TWD…)

This isn't really even a twd anymore since I was on vacation and all when this was posted.. but hey I made it! I used pistachios instead of hazelnuts and put in frangelico anyway and I thought it was delicious.

Super late nectarine upside down chiffon cake

Okay well I actually had this made way before tuesday... But anyway. This cake was an epic fail in my opinion. I mean, it looked nice but wow. It tasted like tofu. Or some kinda sweetened soy type dessert… I honestly have no idea what happened. I didn't really substitute much? it was kinda sunken in and wet looking so I covered the top with streusel and I had an inner layer of fresh apricots.. Oh, and I used light brown sugar instead of dark. Seriously though, if anyone has any idea how this could've possibly become soy tasting, please please let me know, because I swear, there were no soy products even near this..

I loved loved loved making the meringue though, it's just so mesmerizing watching this clear gooey liquid just puff up and look like cotton (:

TWD - Oasis Naan

Oh man, totally forgot to post this on Monday.. Whoops. Anyway, Oasis Naan. It was super duper easy to make, and was really yummy too (: I only made half of the dough, and used the other half to make the Persian Naan, which I'll post sometime later. I hate scallions/green onions, so I only had cumin and salt, unfortunately. I also put seasoning salt on some others, which turned out pretty well also.

I made pasta !

My mother bought a pasta roller on sale a while ago and I finally got a chance to try it out. didn't take too long getting used to the hand crank, and it was yummy too ! (:

Hungarian Shortbread

nom nom nom ! This one was beautiful and delicious (: My house smelled amazing as well, and the grating made the top really pretty. I only used about half the dough, and I think I'll use the rest to make some without jam, and try it when I can find rhubarb in the stores as well, since I used strawberry this time. The dough was super super buttery but it doesn't actually taste that bad, and I totally forgot to put icing sugar on it, but I don't think it really needs it, either..

TYD - Lemon Loaf Cake

So I'd actually made two attempts on this cake, but I'm really really glad I did after the first (failed) attempt. My oven's kind of senile, so the temperatures aren't exact sometimes, I think.. The first time I made it, I didn't have a zester, so I had to zest my lemons with a grater, which resulted in awfully large chunks, and made them kind of chewy in the end.. But anyway, my oven. The first time, I just stuck my loaf pan into the oven and off it went, and the top was a rather dark shade of brown around the 50-ish minute mark, so I tested it with a toothpick and it seemed done..

It wasn't. Fortunately, I decided to take it out of the pan on top of a large plate instead of straight onto a rack since I'd read comments and had wanted to try a lemon glaze. The inside was still batter and the whole bottom half toppled over in a mushy mess ):

The second time, however, was amazing. I went out and bought a nice green microplane zester, and did it all over again. With the recipe for the lemon glaze I'd looked up, there was a little advice for making the cake itself (the recipe was actually for pound cake) and it recommended covering the pan with foil to prevent browning. It was genius. I put foil on it for the first 40 minutes, and then uncovered it and let it bake for another 40. Longer than what the recipe had said, but old, old ovens take a little more time, I guess?

.. You're probably wondering why it looks so.. small. Well, I was running out of time in the morning, so I just left my cooling loaf on my rack and left it, giving my parents a slice each for them to try before the glaze. Oopsies. I didn't take a picture until about half an hour ago.. And most of the cake's been devoured already. It was gorgeous in the beginning, I swear.

Recipes can be found here: Treats and The Beauty of Life