fall baking.....

the weather yesterday was rainy, cold dark and dank....

you know,  typical michigan weather when winter is near....

i hate winter.

so what is a girl to do?  

hmmmm. i know what would make me feel better.

how about this....

upside-down pear gingerbread.

i had a few pears left in the fridge that were getting old fast. i haven't made something like this before

and to be honest, i just thought about cutting the pears up into cubes and

just mixing them into the batter.  

it was really easy to do this though

and i love the way it looked.  

warm spicy syrupy pear sauce on the top

and moist gingery cake on the bottom....

come to mama.....

now, my husband despises gingerbread. and pears.  

my son won't eat it either. but his friend jake came over last night and

had a nice healthy slice.  

at least someone appreciates my baking so half of what was left went home with him. 

(well, i couldn't just leave it lying around for me to eat, could i??)

anyway, here is the recipe, modified from epicurious.com.  you are supposed to make this in a 12 inch  iron skillet but i don't have one of those.  i used a 9 inch cake pan and had a little bit of batter and a half of a pear left over.  i diced the pear and added it to the batter and used a mini loaf pan.  i had to adjust the baking time of the loaf to about 38 minutes.  just keep checking... 

• For topping
• 2 1/2 firm pears (preferably Bosc)
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• whisk the brown sugar and spices together. 

For cake

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup molasses (preferably mild)
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

• 
  

preparatioPerMake topping:

Prepare pears:

Peel and core pears and cut each into 8 wedges.

Melt butter in skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides. Reduce heat to low, then sprinkle brown sugar spice mixture over bottom of skillet and cook, undisturbed, 3 minutes (not all sugar will be melted). Arrange pears decoratively over sugar and cook, undisturbed, 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Make cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together molasses and boiling water in a small bowl. Beat together butter, brown sugar, and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes, then alternately mix in flour mixture and molasses in 3 batches at low speed until smooth.

Pour batter over topping in skillet, spreading evenly and being careful not to disturb pears, and bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. (mine took about 55-60 minutes in the 9 inch cake pan).

Cool cake in skillet on a rack 5 minutes. Run a thin knife around edge of skillet, then invert a large plate with a lip over skillet and, using pot holders to hold skillet and plate tightly together, invert cake onto plate. Replace any pears that stick to skillet. Serve warm or at room temperature.

***recipe modified from epicurious****

taking a chance again.....

once upon a time,  a long, long time ago, i tried making bread.  from scratch. with yeast.

i failed miserably.  

it was hard, gummy and weighed a ton.....and i hated the kneading process because 

i never felt the spongy and soft dough that it was supposed to become.

since that time, i have never attempted to make a yeast bread again...

because i was too scared of failing miserably.

i don't know how i plucked up the courage to try again, but i did.

the sam's club near my house sells a rosemary and sea salt focaccia.  

it rocks my world.  

and makes my pants tighter....

i wanted to try and make my own. 

i used a recipe i found in one of my favorite cookbooks

apples for jam

i am a sucker for a good cookbook and tessa kiros is also a photographer. 

just about each recipe had a picture and she writes the story of the recipes of her childhood.  

it is a beautiful cookbook and i adore the title....what's not to love? 

anyway,

it was a very simple recipe with very simple instructions

and, now i have a kitchen aid mixer with a dough hook

something i didn't have the first go around....so it kneaded right in the mixer.

i couldn't believe how easy it was.  

ridiculously easy.

the dough rose just like it was supposed to. 

i just pushed my fingers into the dough like the recipe said 

to make little craters for all of the olive oil.

i sprinkled it with sea salt and fresh chopped rosemary from my garden. 

looks great huh?  i will admit that it was a little tough and the outside edges of the crust were really hard and crunchy. and it was a little dry for my taste.

since i am not any kind of a baker, i am not sure how to rectify that

 but i think if i take it out of the oven a few minutes earlier and maybe spray some water in the oven while it is baking that could improve it...

if you are a baker, can you give me some suggestions on how to make it more tender?

but it tasted delicious and i have finally conquered my fear of yeast.....

my next challenge will be cinnamon rolls....


(i don't know what the deal is with the font....sorry, i can't fix it....)

curvy french end table....

i hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.  we did.  we stayed home but went cherry picking on sunday.  i had no idea that the orchard that we did our apple picking at every year also had cherry trees.  we picked 14 pounds of sour cherries and about 4 pounds of queen ann or ranier cherries. 

i've never made a cherry pie before but it is don's favorite so i tried my hand at it.  

unfortunately, we hacked into it before i got a picture of it.......

so worth it.....i have never made a pie that turned out so well.....

it was perfect.

i also made a 4th of july tart using refrigerated sugar cookie dough with cream cheese filling and fresh fruit.....

another winner.....

and just as tasty....

it literally took me about 15 minutes after i had the crust baked....

okay, enough about food (i'm getting hungry!!!)

i got this table at the local goodwill for $9.99.  i loved the lines and the fact that it was a tall end table.  a lot of the end tables that i have done in the past were short. i think this is the best size to be next to a sofa 

and the perfect height for a lamp.

it had a crack across the table top which was glued and clamped.  

i was dying to use the chalk paint in the paris grey on a piece of furniture and i thought that this table would be perfect.  i ended up using it as an accent color because when i opened it it looked way darker than i thought it was supposed to.  i am wondering if i got a mislabeled can and i emailed the stockist but have not heard back yet.  

i used old white for the body of the table because i thought the grey was too dark to be painted completely with it.

  i distressed it and waxed it with annie sloan dark wax.

 it gives the furniture the most beautiful shine and it is so smooth it feels just like butter.

now i just have to find out if i got the right color in the right can.......

but i love how it turned out.