TWD: Tarte Fine

Can I just say that I believe that technology hates me right now? First, Blogger went down last night, so I couldn't upload photos or write witty commentary (well, I couldn't do that before, but now I have something to blame for it!). Then I spent an hour sifting through purchase requests for our lab so that I could start maintaining an inventory of items that need to be stocked in the lab. But see, I wanted to make it all simple and easy for anyone in our lab to access it, so I figured I'd make a gmail account and put it up as a google document. FAIL. Seriously. First, the password I chose for our lab's email account was too weak (seriously? stop judging me, it was supposed to be easy.). Then I got that fixed and it decided that the date I put in for the birthday made our lab too young (again, the judging!). So I figured I'd put in my birthday. Turns out, Gmail believes that 25 is too young to have your own gmail account. Evidently, it was Google win, Caitlin fail all night. Hmph.


Then again, I at least had this little tarte to munch on during my fit of pique. I made it this weekend, and so it was substantially downsized from the original proportions. You see, a mere 1.5 months after the fiance moved to NC to live with me, he found a job! And then said job sent him to Virginia for a straight week of training. grumblegrumble So in an effort to, well, not eat an entire sheet of puff pastry on my own, I improvised. It was assembled while I baked the double apple bundt (oh fall, how I love you and your flavors), so I saw zero point in attempting to sliver an apple into 28 little wedges. Luckily, I had scaled down the bundt so I had half an egg and a pile of grated apple just waiting to be used up. So that's where it went. Yes, it's a bit messier and less sleek than the original, but it seriously is the perfect thing to have around when technology doesn't cooperate.


Last Week: Coffee Break Muffins
Next Week: Double Apple Bundt Cake

TWD: Coffee Break Muffins

Can you believe that there are only a couple recipes that I've made over and over from this book? We've been so busy, the last (gulp) 33 months baking them that only a few have jumped from the one night stand to a long term relationship. (Yes, I anthropomorphize my baked goods. I do it with molecules in chemistry too - try it, it makes organic chemistry much more fun.) The cream scones are my go-to scone recipe, the cranberry upside-downer is perfect for Thanksgiving, world peace cookies (in all their variations) are always amazing. And these coffee muffins - oh, these coffee muffins. I have made these at least a dozen times, always sharing them, always amazing people with them. And little do they know, the reason I made them the first time? I was out of milk and wanted muffins!


In fact, when I opened the book to the page for this recipe, the fiance happened to walk into the kitchen at the same time. He looked over and just started laughing - there were drops of batter, smears of butter, a dusting of flour. All over the page. Think I liked these muffins? You have no idea. I tweak them the teensiest bit each time I make them - the first time was as-written, but then I went on a spree of combining the original recipe with the one on the opposing page - carrot spice muffins. Lest you think those don't go together, I shared them with coworkers. They loved them. Most times though, I do what I did this last time - I up the spices, tripling or quadrupling them. It gives a wonderfully complex spiced coffee muffin.


These, too, went in to school (I just wrote work - obviously, I haven't been in grad school long enough to get out of that habit!). While I shared the peanut butter criss crosses with classmates, these went in to our office area. And I don't think I have to tell you - they were quite well received.


Last Week: Raspberry Upside-Downer
Next Week: Tarte Fine

TWD: Raspberry Upside-Downer

I have run out of words. Seriously, this is rare for me - I tend to ramble on and on, but today? Nothing, nada, zilch, zippi-dee-doo-dah. You see, I have classes. And research. And a super cool fellowship. And then my advisor just dumped two grant / fellowship proposals on me, both due 2-3 days after my wedding. So the words? They're ending up on paper, but not the fun kind - words like elucidate and characterize and global warming and radiative effects and remote marine aerosol and blahblahblah.


I think I even put myself to sleep thinking about the words. And simultaneously a panic attack thinking about the proposals. Seriously, how do academics get anything done?? You must spend all your time writing grants to get money, writing papers so you can justify getting more money, going to conferences to talk about the papers so you can justify getting more money and no wonder so many professors don't have enough time to teach!


So words. Evidently I do have some, but they're of the waving hands wildly above my head in a panic kind. My apologies. Here, have some cake!

Last Week: Peanut Butter Criss-Crosses
Next Week: Coffee Break Muffins (ohmygodyoucan'tskipthesemuffins!!!)

TWD: Peanut Butter Criss Crosses

Flabbergasted is a fun word, isn't it? Or it would be, if that particular emotion hadn't occurred during a lab I was in this past Wednesday. You see, I'm an engineer. Get in, get it done, get out. Quick and dirty, fast and efficient. And I'm proud of it, in case you were wondering. But this lab is an analytical chemistry lab, and for those of you not in the know, that means precision. Daintiness. Patience. Attention to detail. So you can imagine the issues that arose when I realized we would be measuring the average volume of half a drop of water. Seriously?! SERIOUSLY?!?! I'm pretty sure my reaction caused my poor lab partner to back away in fear.


You have all seen my approach to measuring here, right? I scoff at the scoop and sweep, spoon and level, or weighing crowds, because the things I bake don't need that sort of precision. And let me tell you, when making a 1g/L solution of KI, you also don't need that kind of accuracy. So you can imagine my relief when I was able to go home, vent (briefly) to the fiance about the idiocy of that particular lab, and bake these cookies. Because I tossed them together people. The way it should be. Because hello! With that much peanut butter, that much butter, and the addition of salted peanuts, how could it turn out poorly?!


Obviously, it couldn't. And while these aren't my kind of peanut butter cookies (these are, and I have 3 dozen cookie dough balls in my freezer to prove it), they're damned good. Yes, they're crunchy on the edges while my favorites are chewy and soft throughout. Yes, they have peanuts in them, adding more textural contrast and complexity than I'm looking for in a standard peanut butter cookie. But guys, let's talk seriously here. I let them cool and bagged them up a few days before I took photos. And when I took the cookies out of the bag to take a few photos, all that peanut buttery goodness just came racing out. In no time flat, that was all I could smell (which is impressive, since I had three other things baking that particular day...). And seriously? That's what peanut butter cookies are all about.


One thing to note - I made a half batch and used a small cookie scoop to portion them out. I ended up with 42 cookies, which were just barely baked at around 8 minutes. Pulling them out then kept a textural contrast between the crunchier edge and the chewier center.

Also, in case you were wondering, the fiance is currently working his fingers to the bone. He's making little origami figures to go on each and every table and name card since we're doing that instead of table numbers (booo-ring). I, on the other hand, am doing nothing wedding-related. Take that, traditional gender roles!

Last Week: Chicory Chocolate Chip Shortbread
Next Week: Cranberry Upside-Downer