TWD- Berry Double Crisp

Wow, how depressing that I've been away from TWD for so long. I'm glad to be back (at least for this week) with this AMAZING fruit crisp. Chosen by Sarah, this is supposed to be a strawberry rhubarb crisp. I couldn't find rhubarb (ok, I'm not sure I would've used it if I could), so I used this Very Cherry fruit mix from Trader Joe's. Cherries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Yum.
The fruit mixture is boiled with sugar and cornstarch to produce a jam-like filling. 

Sanwiched between an oatmeal-brown sugar (I omitted the ginger and walnuts) crust, this was HEAVENLY. We served it with vanilla ice cream (we had guests and I thought maybe it was tacky to photograph their dishes) and it was amazing. The perfect way to get me in the mood for some warmer weather!!

Teapots and Cakestands will have the recipe!

And the real reason I've been missing lately:

#4. Are we crazy??!!!

Double-decker Bus Cake

For my good friend Melissa, who loves London!

The cake was chocolate filled with caramel buttercream. The buttercream was a recipe I hadn't tried before, but has made my list of favorites! Make it and put it on everything!!!


Caramel Buttercream
recipe from Martha Stewart Recipes

Ingredients

• • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 large egg whites, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Bring 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar and the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Wash sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming. Cook, undisturbed, until caramel is dark amber. Remove from heat, and slowly add cream, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth. Let cool.
2. Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
3. Place whites and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer.
4. Remove from heat, and attach bowl to a mixer. Whisk on medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, and add beaten butter, cup at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in vanilla.
5. Switch to paddle attachment. With mixer on low speed, add caramel, and beat until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Use immediately, or cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. (Bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using.)

Homemade Pizza Dough

We love pizza. LOVE it. And I love to make it at home. It's fairly easy and low maintenance. I know on cooking shows, they recommend the easiest thing to use for pizza crust is buying some dough from your favorite pizzeria (has anyone tried that?), but I always just make it at home. My old go-to recipe was from Cooking Light, but recently, I tried a crust from Simply Recipes. It's equally easy and quick to put together, but I think it's chewier and has a better texture. And if you haven't checked out Simply Recipes, you should! There are great main dish recipes that I love!
Try this pizza dough out the next time you're in the mood!!

Homemade Pizza

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (105°F-115°F
• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast package
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour 
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

METHOD

1 In the large bowl of an electric mixer, add the warm water. Sprinkle on the yeast and let sit for 5 minutes.

2 Attach a dough hook to the mixer. Mix in the olive oil, flour, salt and sugar on low speed for a minute. Knead on low speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

3 Place ball of dough in a bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn the dough around in the bowl so that it gets coated with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until it doubles in size. 


Makes 2 10-12-inch pizzas.

Batman Cake/Cupcakes

For a 5 year old's birthday- Batman!