m a k e { a n d } t a k e

posting this on here has been on my to-do list for quite some time now, but it feels good to post again  this bubble bread is from a great cookbook -  baked.  making the dough home-made makes a big difference, it’s very smooth and not too sweet.  you could alternately use canned biscuit dough, but i recommend taking the extra step to make it from scratch.

 it’s a bundt!  spray with non-stick to coat.

beat dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer to combine.

warm milk to just above room temperature.

teeny tiny beads make wonderful things.

add yeast to warm milk { and } whisk to dissolve.

 add 1 slightly beaten egg to the dry mix.

add warm milk mixture in a slow stream.

add melted butter.

mix until silky { and } smooth.

using dark brown sugar instead of granulated makes it a richer caramel.

 time to dip { and} coat.

it will be  v e r y  hot when coming out of the oven – be careful.

quickly becoming one of my favorites.

a nice { and } chunky cookie with white chocolate chip, walnuts { and } coconut.

wow.  i can’t believe how long it’s been since i blogged.  so much has happened since june 13th.  i quit my long-time job to pursue things i am passionate about.  baking { and } photography.  i got a job with a photography company working in customer service { and } love it.  all in all, i’m super happy and excited about the new chapter in my life.  it’s been a great summer with the nieces { and } nephew, family, friends, concerts { and } lots to celebrate.

 the girl was in tee-ball this summer.

 which meant a lot of playground time for the boy { and } the baby.

then there was disney.

 to say these kids enjoy escalators is a drastic understatement.

 we got multiple days in at the magic kingdom this year.

outside the grand floridian.

face painting at animal kingdom.

the view from our room was fantastic.

 there was a lot of rain, which actually helped – no ridiculous beating sun all day every day.

many character signings.

lots of pool time this year.

a lot of time at disney is spent waiting.  for the monorail.  for the bus.  for the ride.  for the casey anthony trial to be on a break.  you name it, we waited for it.

 more rides.

{ and } more rain.

 disney 2011 was an awesome trip, it’s been years since we went during summer { and } it ended up working out great.

 my best friend sarah got engaged so i took her { and } paul’s engagement pictures at the beach where he proposed.

this little man became a big brother.

 in the form of my close friend jen’s baby.  so freaking adorable.

some friends got married.  congrats vick w { and } chris.

 the wedding was celebrated with great friends.

there was celebrating of leaving my job of over 12 years.  i couldn’t have made it through all these changes without the support of my closest { and} best friends.  this lady is no exception.  i owe her big time.  probably in the form of coconut cupcakes.

 pretty flowers grow in my sister’s backyard apparently.

 { and } a new addition to my sister { and } brother-in-law’s brood.  meet payton johnson.

 wrapping up summer with a lifehouse concert at ravinia.  if you haven’t been to ravinia, you should go.  it’s fantastic.

 { and } the girl started kindergarten.  she’s growing up  s o  fast.

moving, new job(s), lots of change happening in the make { and } take world.  i’m looking forward to what fall { and } winter bring..

i’ve taken a break from blogging.  { and } baking.  at least a break from baking new things to blog.  i made these chocolate mint cookies a while back to use up these dark chocolate mint chips that i snagged around the holidays.  they were delicious cookies.  kind of like those crispy mint ones those swindlers girls sell you.  only in a soft cookie form.  yum. 

i decided that i am going to start sharing more than just food photos on my blog.  i used to use flickr { and } loved it.  i think it’s a great way to share your pictures { and } be inspired by other people’s photography.  then facebook came along { and } i slowly stopped posting on flickr.  i didn’t renew my account a few months back { and } will probably not go back to it.  however, i do enjoy sharing my photos with more than just facebook.  this all came to fruition in my head last night when i went to grab some pictures to email to a friend off of my external hard drive.  i am  v e r y  diligent about backing my photos up on that hard drive.  i copy, double check, open, triple check, etc. before deleting the downloaded pictures off my computer.  when i went to get those pictures last night, my external hard drive decided that the 2011 folder of  a l l  of my 2011 pictures was corrupt.  seriously.  complete meltdown.  fifty dollars { and } a recovery program later,  s o m e  of my pictures have been recovered.  not all { and } certainly none of the corrupt ones from that hard drive.  but, i suppose these things happen.  luckily i do post pictures regularly onto facebook { and } should be able to download decent size files of those pictures.  crisis not averted, but i just had to deal with it.  hopefully people will enjoy the pictures i’ll post on here.  for now, though, back to the cookies. 

chocolate mint cookies.

{ since these chips are obviously a limited edition, if you don’t have them you could substitute with bittersweet chocolate chips { and } add some mint extract }

i came across this recipe on heather baird’s blog and immediately knew that i wanted to attempt this cake.  i am not a big fan of cheesecake, but i am a big fan of peanut butter and chocolate together.  who isn’t, though?  i decided to tackle it for my brother-in-law’s 40th birthday party.  i didn’t tell anyone about it because, quite frankly, i figured it would be a disaster.  luckily, though, it was far from it.  it was a big hit and came out great.  nowhere near the perfection that heather of sprinkle bakes made, but not bad for a first attempt.  a bit of advice, though:  do not attempt this in one day/overnight.  it’s just not enough time.  make sure you follow heather’s recipe both for technique { and } for time. 

two layers of peanut butter cup cheesecake.

between two layers of chocolate cake.

 

the first batch of caramel i attempted in the microwave.  it didn’t go well.  if you’re using the caramels that are wrapped you should be fine, but i had caramel bits left-over from the fall { and } wanted to use them up.

 

the caramel bits ended up melting much better in a saucepan.

caramel { and } roasted salted peanuts on each layer.

 

frost with ganache.

i wasn’t able to pull off the chocolate curls so i just broke them up { and } stuck them into the cake sides.  not nearly as pretty as the curls.  better luck next time.