February 14th

I celebrated February 14th with the Chinese New Year...the year of the tiger. I had fun getting together with a small group of friends to have some Chinese food, watch a bit of Olympics and have a ping-pong tournament. It was a fun time!

Cookie Decorating

I love getting together with my friends to decorate cookies for the holidays. These are the ones I got to decorate.

Raspberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Here is the February recipe from my baking calendar. I love this coffee cake. This was a hit with all my co-workers. I think I need to plan a brunch and have this and the main attraction.

Raspberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

2 1/4 c flour
1 c sugar
3/4 c butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c sour cream
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 c raspberry preserves
1/2 c sliced almonds

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and side of 9" or 10" spring form pan with shortening or cooking spray; lightly flour. In large bowl, mix flour and 3/4 cup of the sugar. With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 cup of crumb mixture.

To remaining crumb mixture, stir in baking powder, baking soda, salt, sour cream, almond extract and 1 of the eggs until well blended. Spread batter in bottom and 2" up side (about 1/4 inch thick) of pan.

In another small bowl, beat cream cheese, remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 egg until well blended. Pour into batter-lined pan. Carefully spoon preserves evenly over cream cheese mixture. In another small bowl, mix reserved crumb mixture and sliced almonds; sprinkle over preserves.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until cream cheese filling is set and crust is deep golden brown. Cool 15 minutes. Remove side of pan; leave coffee cake on pan bottom. Serve warm or cool. Store in refrigerator.

No alterations with this recipe.

Blueberry Bonanza Bars

Oh...these could have been sooooo gooood! The blueberry filling was my favorite. First the recipe and then what happened.

Blueberry Bonanza Bars

1/2 c slivered almonds, toasted
2 c flour
3/4 powder sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c butter (cold)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c blueberry jam
almond-coconut granola

Line a 9"x13" pan with foil, allowing a 2" overhang. Coat with cooking spray. Set aside.

Process almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter, process until mixture resembles course meal.

Lightly beat egg, egg yolk, and vanilla in a small bowl. With processor running, add egg mixture; process just until clumps form. Pat dough into bottom of dish; refrigerate until firm and cold, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake until edges are golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Spread jam over crust; top with granola. Bake until jam is bubbling and granola topping is browned, about 30 minutes. Let cool on wire rack. Lift out, and cut into 2" squares. Bars can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 day, or frozen up to 1 week.

Here's the mess I made with this recipe:

I had a recipe for the almond-coconut granola but I couldn't find it, so I bought granola cereal. Really with I made some homemade granola.

I didn't have almonds. I should have at least gotten some almond meal.

I forgot to put the vanilla in. I think I was stressed about the alterations I was making.

My oven bakes really hot and the crust was a little too done. I should have known to turn the oven lower especially if the crust was supposed to bake for 30 min and then go back in for another 25 min.

What went right, then?

Well, I didn't have blueberry jam...couldn't find it. I had some fresh blueberries in the freezer and made some blueberry filling. I pureed the blueberries and boiled them with water, sugar, butter and corn starch. It was amazingly tastey! That was my favorite part. Mmmmmmm

Doppelgänger

I have been entertained lately by the celebrity look-a-likes that friends have been posting as their profile pictures on Facebook. I thought about posting one but this celebrity is not well known in the States and she's the only celebrity that I've ever been told that I look like. Sam can attest to this since he was there with me. Anyhow, I wanted to share the story since it was a sweet experience.

In '97 I went with my dad to pick up my brother, Sam, from his mission in Ecuador. One day in Guayaquil we went to the Mercado Artesenal for some souvenirs. I wasn't dressed up fancy...worn jeans and a white t-shirt. My hair was almost waist long and frizzy with the humidity. While shopping and browsing a few kids started following me around. I think Sam noticed first and figured that it was normal for the kids to follow foreigners. However, the number of kids started to increase. Finally, a young girl approached me while the other kids hid behind a corner and asked if I was Gaviota. I started to notice the stares from the kids with their eyes wide open. I was at a loss and didn't know who they were talking about. Sam and I asked the kids about Gaviota and found out they thought I was the Colombian singer Margarita Rosa de Francisco. Gaviota is the name of one of her more famous songs which you can view here, it means seagull. They were disappointed, I'm sure, but I was flattered.