Turtle Pie AND Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I'm a horrible blogger/baker. I haven't been making much in terms of sweets and I certainly haven't been updating. School has been boring, like really boring. In psychology I seriously count how many times this one guy says the word like, it is a lot of times. (60 times in one class period(1 1/2 hours long)). It is quite distracting, but I'm easily distracted in that class because it is so boring, the prof has a quiet monotone voice not cool.
I feel guilty about not blogging and then I start feeling guilty because I'm not baking, and its a guilty spiral into shame. Its not like I don't have time to bake, its more like I don't really have anyone to bake for, because I start to feel guilty about making sweets and then eating them all. See just more quilt, I can't get away from it.
This weekend I was feeling sorta home sick, but I'm home so I don't know what to call it really. I was missing our good friends the Erickson family and I thought I'd make a turtle pie because it is Mr. Paul's favorite. I don't feel as guilty about not baking things, even though you don't bake a turtle pie, and it also means that I should blog, so I can stop feeling guilty about that.
I actually started writing this post about a week or so ago and haven't finished it, but it has given me a chance to do more so that I can write more. I have now made pineapple upside down cake as well. My brother and his fiancee came in for a visit this weekend and so I made cake because now there are more people to actually eat it. I have discovered that when Holly (my kitten) is purring he has an on and off switch. All you have to do is put your hand on his face and he stops purring, lift the hand off and he starts up again. It is almost finals week for me and of course all the teachers think that the projects need to be done this week before finals, so I have three papers to write, two posters to make and one test to actually study for. Its kind of a hectic weekend for me. It doesn't help that Holly's favorite place to nap is in my lap. I love that he naps on my lap but it is kind of hard to get things done when you don't want to move and disturb the adorable thing.
The first recipe is for pineapple upside down cake.

Ingredients
1 box of white cake mix
2 cans of pineapple rings
1 jar of maraschino cherries without stems or pits
1/3 cup of melted butter
1 cup of brown sugar

I followed the direction on the cake mix except I used the juice from the pineapples and cherries and instead of just the egg whites I used the whole egg(minus shell of course). And I know that I'm a pastry student and shouldn't be using cake mixes, but they are just so easy, and I'm kind of lazy. What you do first is you preheat the oven to whatever the cake mix tells you to. Then you want to mix the melted butter with the brown sugar, and make sure its nice and moist then spread it as evenly possible on the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Place the pineapple rings in the brown sugar mixture and place a cherry inside each ring. Mix the cake batter and pour over pineapple. Bake.Once the cake is fully baked, take it out of the oven and flip it over onto a cookie sheet and let cool. Once it has had time to cool enough that you can lift the pan up without gloves, then remove the pan. Serve and enjoy.

Now the Turtle Pie recipe might be a little tricky.

Ingredients
1 pre-made graham cracker crust, again I'm a little lazy and it is just convenient

Chocolate mouse
5 oz semi-sweet Bakers chocolate
2 egg whites
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp butter
2/3 cup heavy cream

Caramel Sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1 oz butter
1/4 cup warmed heavy cream
Pecans as needed

In a small heavy bottomed pan, caramelize the sugar. Put the sugar in the bottom of the pan and turn to high heat, make sure that there is not an area of the pan that is not covered by sugar. Once all the sugar has dissolved and is a nice caramel color, remove from heat and add the butter. It will bubble up, keep stirring, once the butter has dissolved add the warmed heavy cream, again it will bubble up, but keep stirring. In the bottom of you pie crust place pieces of pecans and then pour the caramel over the pecans.
Next make the chocolate mouse, place the chocolate and butter into a bowl and heat in the microwave slowly until the chocolate has melted. Make sure not to over heat the chocolate. While heating the chocolate whip the egg whites until they are foamy and white. Gradually add the sugar and continue to whip until medium to stiff peak. Then whip the heavy cream until it has a medium peak, in a separate bowl. Once the chocolate has melted and is a little warm add the egg yolk. And mix thoroughly. Then add the heavy cream 1/3 at a time and mix carefully. Do the same with the egg whites/meringue. Finally pour over caramel and pecans then refrigerate or freeze until needed.

Here Fishy Fishy

So I know that I have been pretty lax when it comes to blogging. I just feel that if I don't do much then there isn't much to put so why put anything? Anyways, as of the 15th of August I had quit my job. I loved quitting. I can't really express how much I hated that job. Since then I have been doing basically what I did last summer, which is basically being a lazy bum. I have been taking my dad and going fishing. On the days that we actually catch fish we can't catch more than three fish, and they aren't big enough to eat or keep. I caught a pretty decent size one today but still not a keeper. Dad didn't catch any, I caught the three for the day. I don't like eating fish, except the fish that is made by Gourmandise, The Bakery is Salt Lake City every Friday because its that days special. One of the things that I hate about fishing, is when you catch a fish and are taking your hook out you have to hold the fish and that makes your hands smell like fish. And then they stink up your car...We have been using worms as bait the last couple days and so to get the worm on the hook my dad bought a worm threader. Which is kind of like a needle but not sharp, its hollow and you shove it into the worm so that it doesn't wiggle as you are putting it on your hook. As you might imagine this is very disgusting. I'm a pretty squeamish person. I throw up because someone else throws up, or I watch Tosh.0 and he shows something disgusting. I don't like that this happens but its just part of who I am. Anyway, I was doing fine with the poking worms and what not because my dad was doing it for me. Until I decided that I didn't like fishing where he was so I went a little ways away from him. I kept catching fish and they would steal my worm or eat my entire hook, and so I would have to walk back to where he was and put on a worm. It was so disgusting, their guts were coming out and they were bleeding and crapping. I was trying not to puke while I was doing this. I'm going to try and get my dad to go fishing again tomorrow, because I enjoy catching the fish even if there are parts about fishing that I hate.
I start back to school soon. I'm sorta excited, I'm one of those people who want to go to school while they are out of school, but want out of school when they are in school. I have a pretty easy schedule, and I don't have any gaps between classes, so I'm more likely to stay in my classes. In the past I've had times where I've had a two hour gap between classes and being a commuter its not enough time to go home and come back, a lot of times I would just leave and not go to the classes after the break. Its also nice that I have most of the day free so I can still do things. On Mondays and Wednesdays I don't have to be to class until 4pm. While on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have to be to class at 2 pm.
I may have found a new job, that I would only have to work weekends and I would get paid more than BK paid me an hour. I kind of hope I get it because its nice to make money. But I would rather just win the lottery like just about everyone else would like to do, instead of working. Once I find exactly what I want to do, I'm sure that I will enjoy doing it and actually want to go to work. I know what degree I want, and I'm getting it, but I have no clue what I'm going to do with that degree once I get it. Its like a dog that is chasing a car, if it actually catches it, it wouldn't know what the hell to do with it.

And now I leave you with a picture of me and the biggest catch of the day...

Baileys Irish Cream Cupcakes

The other night I was looking for a recipe to make for a BBQ that we were having for my cousins birthday.(I would have to explain why I didn't use the recipe at another time) I stumbled across this newish blog about cupcakes and found a recipe that looked really good. I had a day off from work today, and decided to make it. Since I'm under twenty-one, I couldn't just go to the store and buy the alcohol needed. I had to have a responsible adult purchase it. And before anybody gets mad or in trouble. I did not drink it. I used it in the cupcake and baked off the alcohol, but not the flavor. Anyway the whole reason I was making them was because we have new neighbors and to welcome them to the neighborhood I wanted to give them a little something and be friendly. So that we might actually start to get to know our neighbors. We've lived here almost two years now and we know two of our neighbors, and we are working on the third. Its pretty sad, when we use to live in a neighborhood where we knew everyone. Well the neighbors seemed to like the cupcakes, but for some reason we didn't like them that well. My dad was the only one that said that he really liked the cupcakes. I don't really know what was wrong with them, but they looked and sounded a lot better than they actually were. Maybe I'm just a screw up. Either way I'm not going to be making them again. I might use a different kind of cupcake, and keep the filling and icing. But I'm not making that cupcake again. If you would like to try it here is the recipe which I got from Oh, cupcake! and she got it from somewhere else. Here you go:

Ingredients
For the cupcakes:

1 cup Guinness stout beer
1cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa power
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
For the Ganache Filling:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Bailey's Irish Cream
For the Bailey's Frosting:
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream
Directions
For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined.
Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.
For the ganache filling:

Finely chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth. Add the butter and Irish cream and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.

For the Bailey's Frosting:
Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until all of it is incorporated. Add the Baileys, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy.
Using your favorite decorating tip, or an offset spatula, frost the cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles, if desired.  

August 15th!

On Thursday this week I'm putting in the paperwork to quit my job!!! I'm excited. I've hated working there, and I'm glad that I'm going back to school, but then I'll get a couple weeks in and want to be on vacation again. I have to continue to work at that hell hole until the 15th of August. That is only like nineteen days!! Its going to be a little sad going back this year because a lot of my friends graduated this last school year and aren't coming back, while some are like me, who "technically" graduated in May, and are coming back. (that sentence is a little long, but I never said that I was awesome at English or grammar. In fact I kind of suck at it...Those are the classes that I despise, and am glad I don't have to take anymore of!) There is one of my friends, that I know of, that is going to France to do an internship.

 On completely random news I went to the dentist the other day, and I didn't have any cavities. So to celebrate we went to 7-11 and got some cavities. The point that I'm trying to make is that my dentist said something funny and I would like to share with you. She asked me if I floss everyday. I'm not going to lie so I say no. She says that it doesn't matter too much since I have so much saliva that I'm basically self cleaning... Whatever doc, if I don't have to floss that is awesome news...

I went to see my foot doctor today. (can't spell the correct terminology for it/ I forgot what it was called). He told me that its good that I'm quitting work, because that will help my foot not hurt. He put tape on it and told me that I have a right foot of a person who is older than 40... He also told me that the tape is supposed to last 3-5 days, but knowing my feet, it will probably be coming off by tomorrow...

Oh and today is my cousins birthday. I miss hanging out with him and kind of want to go back to Utah...But I thought that I would put a picture up of me and my cousin hanging out, because its his birthday. 

Happy Birthday Cousin, lets go back to the festival next year.

Money? What money?

So I've been working for BK for a couple weeks, okay maybe a month, I don't know how long I've been working there. The point is that I've been getting paid. And while it feels good to get money, I still really hate working there. I spent my last paycheck on a beautiful new kitchen aid. I haven't used it yet, but I already love it and the new recipes that can go with it. Like making bread. "But Sara, you don't need a kitchen aid to make bread."
I know that random person, but I now have a kitchen aid and it will make it that much easier. I haven't decided on which recipe to try out first in my kitchen aid. Any ideas? My cousin is having a birthday on the 31st, and he wants me to make something creative, something other than a plain old boring yellow cake. I was thinking maybe a pineapple upside down cake, because I think they are delicious, but I'm going to go on like a scavenger hunt to try and find a "creative, delicious, worthy of my kitchen aid" recipe. And I have no idea why I felt the need to say all this at 12:37 am... but I did, and now I must go off to dream-land so that I can go to work-hell in the morning.
Have I mentioned that I've worked every weekend since I started, except one, and I had to request that one off. But ended up working for my mom on that weekend, which was supposed to be spent relaxing, but we had a garage sale. With garage sales the WHOLE family needs to help out apparently... Also I'm putting my two week notice in on the 1st...

Pastry Chef? Indeed!

I know I have been absent most of the time on this blog, and I'm not going to promise to try and do better about it. Because I know that I would break that promise. I really hate working at BK. But in a sense I'm glad that I'm working at BK. One I'm getting paid to work there, two it only confirms more that I want to be a baker. For awhile there I was just saying that that is what I wanted to do, because people told me that that is what I should be. But for me, it only hit me more recently. After doing my internship and having very few days where I just wanted to be lazy and lounge around and not go to work. Versus not wanting to go to work at all. I think that I have told my mom almost every time I have to work that I don't want to go to work.
On other news we had a garage sale this weekend, and we got rid of quite a bit of the pile that had been gathering in our basement. We still have some stuff that didn't sell. Things like clothing that we were trying to sell is going to be donated so we feel good about ourselves. Other things like my X-Box is going to be put on craigslist. So if you know anyone that wants an X-box 360 elite, its hardly been used, let me know.
There really isn't much else that has been going on in my life recently. I'm going to try to go to the Ren Faire on the 16th. And hopefully I'll get to see one of my good friends the weekend of the 23rd. Hopefully I'll be back to post more before almost a month has gone by...if not I'll be back eventually. Haha.

Coffee

Recently I got a job working at BK. I've only worked four days. Well today I was out front working the cash register, and this lady(I'm calling her Ms. Coffee) comes into and asks for a cup of coffee. I was more than willing to give it to her. She gives me a credit card and it gets declined. So she gives me a second card and it gets declined as well. Ms. Coffee starts digging around in her purse for some money to pay me, the coffee was only a $1.30. She ended up being 20 cents short. I asked my manager(Mr. Boss) if I could give her the coffee and forget about the money that she owed us. He said that it was fine, and he poured the coffee for Ms. Coffee. Mr. Boss left enough room for cream and sugar for Ms. Coffee. Well a little bit later she came back and wanted to have the coffee filled up the rest of the way. I was happily obliging. when she asks me if it is decaf. The conversation went a little bit like this.

Ms. Coffee(MC): Is this decaf?
Me: I don't know, nor can I guarantee that it is right now.
MC: What do you mean you don't know or that you can't guarantee it?
Me: I didn't make the coffee, I didn't put the coffee here, I don't know for 100% that it is decaf.
MC: Well this is for my mother, and she has a heart condition and high blood pressure, she can't have caffeine.

She got very angry at me and was not letting me try to explain or ask someone who could guarantee it. As she was walking away she finally said that I should go ask somebody or something like that. I might have said something a little bit louder that I meant to, and that I shouldn't have said. I don't really remember exactly how the conversation went but I think that you will get the general idea of it.  Oh and the whole point of me telling you this story about Ms. Coffee is that she is filing a complaint against me. On my fourth day of work. Over coffee. I understand that her mom could die or have complications from caffeine, but at least give me a chance to explain or ask someone that does know.

That;s my side and I'm sticking to it.

And since this is a supposed to be a pastry blog I will update you on a recipe I made recently. I got it from another blog and the pictures look really good and makes me want some. So I thought I would try out the S'more Pie. I won't lie, it was okay. It was not my favorite dessert, I probably won't make it ever again. When it was fresh out of the oven was probably the best time to eat it. Which I did, but there seemed to be a taste that I did not care for. I even tried it while it was cold and it still had the taste that I did not care for. I believe that it was the marshmallow fluff that was used.  It did sort of taste like s'mores, but I would prefer burning the marshmallows over an open flame and making s'mores that way.
Try it, don't try. You have my opinion and I don't care what you do with it.