Nothing makes you feel like a cute little grandmother faster than whipping up a pie crust from scratch. We live in a high-tech world but making pie crust is about as low-tech as a wooden spoon.
Homemade pie crust has a bad rap. I would like to change that. Making pie crust from scratch isn’t about crazy secret ingredients, or unearthing some new fancy technique. If you work quickly, keep everything as cold as you can, and give your dough a little love. You will be saying, “Man, making homemade crust is easy as pie!” before you know it.
continue reading…
There is no other way to make oneself feel more DIY than hand-wrapping a zillion tiny caramels in small squares of waxed paper. After spending more time doing this than I’d like to admit, I have a greater respect for candy makers everywhere.
I’ve tried a few times to get the courage up and start making caramel. But I always backed out because I was too intimidated to use my candy thermometer and would made a cake instead.
When these caramels entered my life at a wedding this summer, I knew that it was finally time to lady up and make them. Sweet and salty – they were the perfect handmade treat. They would also make an excellent little holiday hostess present.
Just sayin’…
continue reading…
The Month of the Holiday Party. It is that time. It is happening now friends!
I bet you can’t wait to drink glass after glass of warm prosecco over endless cracker platters, right?
Buttery, salty, crunchy, covered in chocolate and made with four main ingredients – these treats are party savers.
The best part: they are made with saltine crackers!
Other selling points: easy to transport, one batch makes a ton, and your fellow partygoers will think you are a master confectioner.
continue reading…
It is almost holiday cookie time. I, for one, could not be happier.
I was thisclose to making my deadline of December 1st – the self-imposed date on which I can begin making tiny bits of buttery awesome to share with anyone who will eat them.
But I realize that the painstaking decoration of holiday cookies isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Most of the time I see the world through my insane baking person lens, meaning that I think everyone should enjoy spending six straight hours in pastry-bag-wielding-cookie-making elf mode. These super cute cookies are the happy medium between the crazy and the lazy.
They look pretty and festive but all you need is a ziplock bag, some fancy sugar, and the will to release your inner Jackson Pollock.
continue reading…
Curd isn’t the most glamorous name for a treat. I would argue that it does anything but make you want to run into the kitchen shouting, “I’m going to make curd! Yay! Hooray for curd!”
You should though. Not that I’m being bossy or anything, but because all my naming qualms aside, curd is delicious!
It is a bright citrus custard that is perfect on muffins, scones, toast, drizzled over ice cream, or mixed into plain buttercream frosting for all your cake decorating needs. Curd can be made with any citrus fruit, or a combination of several types, but I went the grapefruit route.
After I had curbed my need for curd by the spoonful, I went and got crazy. I baked it into a simple spicy gingersnap tart.
continue reading…
Thanksgiving hasn’t even happened yet and here I go talking about what to do with leftovers.
I suppose it has something to do with the fact that we aren’t hosting and that my only plan is to show up with various homemade treats and a hearty appetite for both brussel sprouts and dish washing.
But as everyone is brining, and mashing, and pie-ing (best new verb ever!) I have been channeling my efforts into a hostess present that travels well and can be enjoyed by all for the post-meal meal.
Enter stage left cranberry pepper jelly. Sweet, tart, a kick of heat, and absolutely made for The Friday Turkey Sandwich.
continue reading…
I have been trying to find a way to put beer in a cookie for a very long time. Probably much longer than I’d like to admit.
Other people learn foreign languages in their spare time. Or take up golf! But after mastering French my sophomore year of college, I spent my free time dreaming about getting beer into cookies.
This cookie is the ultimate recipe hack and cobbled together from across the interwebs. Most recipes I found that called for beer in cookies started off by cooking down the beer with a bit of sugar to make a beer syrup. Who has time for that? I would take my time when making something like, oh I don’t know, a wedding cake, but we are making beer cookies. This is a open the can and pour in to the cookies type of situation.
After hours of research – an amount that rivaled my art history thesis – I came across a recipe for drunken pumpkin cookies. No beer syrup, dudes. I found a winner!
continue reading…
Although it may seem otherwise, it’s not brown sugar and flour all the time here at Butter Me Up Brooklyn.
I will admit that I have approximately five pounds of butter in my fridge at this very moment, and I may or may not have eaten a cookie for breakfast, but peak behind the curtain of baked goods, and you get this soup.
This is real-life eats. It is also the soup to make after a BAKINGMAKESFRIENDS night of fun.
I woke up and wanted this soup and/or a cheeseburger but the soup won. Spicy, full of noodles, and topped with crunchy fresh vegetables – it pretty much the cure for anything. Except for dealing with that parking ticket you got two weeks ago, but one of the few benefits of living in New York is that I don’t have to worry about those! What are cars?
continue reading…
Update 11/20/11: Congratulations Hannah! You are the randomly selected winner of the BAKINGMAKESFRIENDS cookie giveaway. Thank you everyone for entering and more giveaways coming soon!
Tonight is the first ever BAKINGMAKESFRIENDS event.
Bring a friend. Bring a baked good. If you live in the Brooklyn area come to the bar Maracuja tonight around 7 p.m. Maybe your chocolate chip cookies will make a new friend. I know that my chocolate chip cookies want to be your friend.
To celebrate the occasion I will be giving away a whole box of the chocolate chip cookies you see above! I want everyone to be a part of the BAKINGMAKESFRIENDS party down even if you don’t live in Brooklyn.
What is your favorite cookie?
Let me know by leaving a comment in this post. Comments close on Saturday night at 11 p.m. EST. One winner with be randomly chosen and announced Sunday morning by 11 a.m. EST. Free cookies! Woot!
Nitty gritty. Anyone can enter the giveaway, but the shipping address must be in the contiguous United States. Send cookies to a friend if you win and live abroad! I want you to get your treats so please leave a valid email address and I will contact the winner to coordinate shipping details. The winner will be randomly selected through blog magic. One entry (comment) per person please.
I have a question. At what age is one too old to receive care packages?
Let’s hope it is not the mid-twenties.
My parents are the most awesome. I receive many an excellent care package since we are 3,000 miles apart. Let’s talk about the last one. It included the following:
-fancy matches
-a sewing kit
-homemade chocolate chip cookies
-lettuce seeds
I kid you not. I guess the idea was while waiting for my lettuce seeds to sprout, I could pass the time by eating cookies and mending socks by candlelight. Regardless of the contents, I can always count on a Trader Joe’s gift card which I know it is my parents’ way of feeding me dinner even when we are miles away. Somehow it always feels that way too.
continue reading…
Nothing makes you feel like a cute little grandmother faster than whipping up a pie crust from scratch. We live in a high-tech world but making pie crust is about as low-tech as a wooden spoon.
