Raspberry Opera Cake

This months Daring Bakers challenge was kind of fun. I've always wanted to make an opera cake, but it's one of those recipes that I just couldn't get around to making. This month we got to make a "light" opera cake. Normally an opera cake is made with chocolate and espresso butter cream, but this time I had to make the cake with light components. I'll admit that I didn't get very adventurous and I went with a flavor combination that I know works well together. The first layer is an almond cake. The cake was then moistened with a lemon syrup. The first two layers were filled with raspberry buttercream. The third layer was topped with white chocolate raspberry mousse.

In the end I was pleased with the challenge. It was a good day spent in the kitchen.

Tart Sweet Hot Delicious

This isn't so much a recipe, but rather a great discovery. Pineapple topped with Thai chillies and flake salt. This makes a great dessert on a hot night. The pineapple was sweet and juicy. The salt is a pleasant contrast and the chillies give the pineapple a complex heat. Give it a shot.

White Chocolate Toffe Oatmeal Cookies

This morning I was perusing my favorite food blogs and came across this great recipe. I had to drop everything and make these cookies. As it turns out they are fantastic. These oatmeal cookies are light and crunchy with a rich buttery flavor. When you bake these cookies the small chunks of caramel bubble up into a crunchy toffe. Makes 24 cookies. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

1 Cup flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter (1 ½ sticks)
1 Cup sugar
¼ Cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ Cup quick oats
4 oz white chocolate chopped into small chunks (NO white chocolate chips)
3 oz chewy caramels cut into small pieces


Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Slowly add the flour, oats, white chocolate and caramels.
Scoop the dough into round balls about 2 tablespoons in size. Place six on each cookie sheet. Press them down slightly until they are about ¾” thick. Bake for 12-16 minutes until golden brown. Cool cookies on a cookie rack.

queso fundido

Cynco de Mayo

The star of Cynco de Mayo was our new commercial gas grill. Each burner has 25,000 btu's. I'm not quite sure what that means, but I can tell you this baby can cook. The portable grill is hot fierce mess. We seared off twenty pounds of hanger steaks, chicken verde and spicy shrimp.
On a side note Cynco de Mayo marks our blogs one year anniversary. If you want to take a look at last years celebration go check out here.
Even the Jack and Rufus got in on the fun.