STRAWBERRY TART

Once again I wasn't all that excited about this tart. And once again I was surprised. I've never seen creme fraiche around here so a couple of days before I was going to serve the tart I made some. The crust was very easy and Dorie's suggestion about baking it fully worked for me because I actually forgot it was still in the oven when I started to smell it and had to run through the house to take it out. But when I cut it, it didn't crumble at all. I sliced my strawberries, tossed in a little sugar, a quick turn of pepper, and a dash of kirsch. I found some jam in the pantry, assembled the little slices and served to the company I had over topped with a little creme fraiche and got rave reviews. My husband ate three pieces raving the whole time about the creme fraiche. He's a pretty big fan of all things cream and butter. Very delicious and easy.

French Brownies

I knew I should have left those raisins out. I was kind of thinking they might meld into the brownie. I don't really like raisins but am not seriously opposed, so I decided to give it a try. I didn't have any rum so I subbed Kahlua which of course doesn't have enough alcohol to ignite so I burned of the alcohol by briefly boiling the raisins, Kahlua, and water which is the reason for igniting the rum I think.
This was a really easy recipe. The batter was delicious but the raisins added a strange chew in the middle of a really GOOD brownie.-+And then there's the strawberry icecream. It's all I had and it's Tuesday afternoon.

Sticky Buns

The recipe this week for Tuesday With Dorie was sticky buns. OMG are they good.
They took two days, a lot of butter, a hardworking Kitchen Aid, and some patience but I guess that's what sticky buns are about.
It all starts with a brioche dough (lots of butter), a rise (I used the proof mode on my oven because I had to go to work), a rest in the fridge (it got a little harder than I thought it would and didn't really rise more like other people's).
Also, I didn't roll it out quite enough and after I trimmed the edges and cut a couple too wide, I only ended up with twelve buns. A couple even tried to escape out of their rolls when put in the oven. The glaze was slightly harder than I would have liked but just a little flavor in your teeth to savor later.
I wish I could figure this whole blogging thing out (links, renaming links, moving around my photos) but I'm sure I will eventually. I just don't have a lot of time on my hands obviously. I'm off to fold laundry, clean house, and prep dinner before my beautiful little monkeys wake up from their naps. Oh yeah, and try to squeeze in a shower.

SNICKERY SQUARES

The recipe pick this week for TWD was tradtional Madeleines. I don't own a Madeleine pan and really didn't want to buy a pan that was for something so specific so I decided to make snickery squares.
First I had to make dulce de leche. Usually when a cookbook claims you can find an ingredient at your supermarket or local ethnic market, you won't find it here. So I bought two cans of sweetened condensed milk, covered them with water and simmered away for three hours. It worked!
The next morning I set about making the squares propping the children in front of the tv for Madagascar. I've tried making carmel this way before and it hasn't worked. The sugar has never turned back to carmel for me. It just stays crystalized so I was pretty skeptical and I'm not sure if this was how the peanuts were supposed to look. I was expecting something more like peanut brittle. I also am not sure if I should have simmered the condensed milk a little longer because the squares didn't really set up. The dulce de leche oozes out. They are very delicious though.

Horton

A lot of people will think this is weird but at the age of 36 I have discovered how great libraries are. I grew up in a very small town and the only library was the one at school and it was not spectacular to say the least. When we first moved to
Whitefish, I had a library card but took some books back late and then was scared to go back because I was afraid they'd want money.
Well, I finally went back because Lucy absolutely loves books and I can't keep buying them. Some children's books are a little spendy. It's been great and I've even been getting books for myself. I know, at 36.
So anyway, we got Horton Hatches the Egg. We read it a few times and one day we were out walking around and Lucy picked up a few river rocks. One really flat one and later on I discovered she was carrying it around and then sitting on it. Even putting it under her bumm in her car seat. She's keeping it warm and waiting for it to hatch. We're trying to figure out a way to make it hatch.
Kids sure are hilarious.

We went to dinner at a friends house last week and he had some great pine cones from some ponderosas at his house. All the pine cones around here are from spruce trees and not all that cool. I read that a great project for preschoolers is to paint pine cones with peanut butter and then roll them around in sesame seeds to make a bird feeder so we gave it a try. It was fun. Lucy really liked it. We tied one up in a bird house in the back yard and another at the end of a limb in the back yard. The next morning Lucy was very excited to see if we had any birds and then was very disappointed to discover the squirrels had got the one tied to the limb. And the one in the bird house hasn't been touched. Maybe it's too cold still.