I made this cake for my two lovely friends (One who has a blog here...)  They spent two Saturdays with with me designing and building a two compartment compost bin for my backyard out of scrap wood and old palates.   It was excellent.  They put a lot of time and effort in the the project with me and I am eternally grateful.  What do I do for people that I am eternally grateful for?  Bake them cakes and invite them to supper!

Mmm, pudding cake! What could be better?  A cake that mixes easily and frosts itself?  It's almost too good to be true!  I took this cake to a family gathering and it was quickly devoured by all.  I only have one word of caution: don't try to make this cake in a spring form pan.  This might seem like common sense to any other person, but for some reason, I decided to make this in a spring form pan, even though I knew the frosting was going to be on the bottom... yeah...

So, I put the cake in the oven and then ran upstairs to do some work on my computer.  When I came down to check my cake near the end of baking time I smelled burning.  Panic seized me as I ran to the oven yelling, "Don't be burned! Don't be burned!"  I opened the oven door and realized that some of the frosting and leaked out the bottom of the pan and was burning on the bottom of the oven.  Relief washed over me as I realized I hadn't burned my actual cake. Phew!

However, I did have only about 1/2 the frosting that was supposed to be on the cake.  It was still very tasty though.  So if you make this, expect a little more icing than my pictures show... unless you make the same mistake I did and use a spring form pan...

Warm Chocolate-Raspberry Pudding Cake

Taken from the Gourmet Cookbook (Also available on Epicurious.com)

For frosting

3 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam (about 5 ounces)
1/2 cup heavy cream

For cake batter
1/2 cup boiling water
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam (about 3‚ ounces)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. and generously butter a 9- by 2-inch round cake pan.

Make frosting:
Chop chocolate. In a small heavy saucepan bring jam, cream, and chocolate to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Pour frosting into cake pan.

Make cake batter:
In a bowl whisk together boiling water and cocoa powder until smooth and whisk in milk, vanilla, and jam. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy and add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Into another bowl sift together flour, baking soda, and salt and add to egg mixture in batches alternately with cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating well after each addition.

Pour batter evenly over frosting mixture and bake in middle of oven 30 to 35 minutes, or until a tester inserted into cake comes out clean (frosting on bottom will still be liquid). Cool cake slightly in pan on a rack, 10 to 20 minutes. Cake may be made 1 day ahead, cooled completely in pan and left in pan, covered, at room temperature. Reheat cake, uncovered, at 350°F. 10 to 15 minutes.

Run a thin knife around edge of pan and twist pan gently back and forth on a flat surface to loosen cake. Invert a cake plate with a slight lip over cake pan and, holding pan and plate together with both hands, invert cake onto plate. Frosting will cover cake and run onto plate.

Serve cake garnished with raspberries.

Feta-Stuffed Chicken has been a long-time favorite at my house.  I'm actually surprised that I haven't posted about it before since it is 1) incredibly easy to make 2) kind of fancy 3) super delicious.  I don't even know what magazine this recipe was clipped out of it is so old.  I wish I knew so I could give credit where credit is due. 

I have the same problem with this amazing butternut squash risotto recipe.  It is a pretty old recipe and I don't know what magazine it is from, but it was entered into the magazine for a contest by Nancy Skahill and it won $400!  It is really very good.  It actually isn't too "squash-y" if you ask me.  The squash is there and tastes great, but squash flavor is not infused throughout, which is fine with me because it means my husband will eat it, even though he doesn't really like squash!

Feta-Stuffed Chicken

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs (make sure they are finely crushed)

1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled feta cheese with basil and tomato (you could also use more or less to your tastes, though I think I used a little more.  Also, you could use regular and flavor it with other things)

1 1/2 teaspoons melted butter

salt, pepper (to taste)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Mix the breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and place on a plate.  Place each chicken breast between two sheets of heavy duty plastic wrap; flatten to 1/4 inch thickness using the flat side of a meat mallet or a rolling pin.  Dredge the chicken in the breadcrumb mixture.  Spoon 1 tablespoon  (or a little more if you are feeling generous and you think your chicken will wrap around it fully). Fold in half (or wrap chicken around the cheese in such a way that it is completely encased). 

Place the chicken in a baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Drizzle the melted butter on top.  Bake, uncovered for 25 minutes or until chicken tests to the correct temperature on a meat thermometer.

Butternut Squash Risotto

Adapted From recipe by Nancy Skahill

5 cups chicken broth

2 tablespoons olive oil

3-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4" to 1/2" cubes (about 3 cups)

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1/4 teaspoon saffron, crushed or ground turmeric (I have used both with excellent results)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese (plus some extra for topping, if you like)

1/8 - 1/4 ground white pepper (if you don't care about black specks in the risotto like I didn't, you can just use black pepper)

In a medium saucepan, bring broth to a boil.  Cover and reduce the heat until broth just simmers.  Meanwhile, in a large pot heat oil over medium heat.  Add the squash and rice; cook for 1 minute, add garlic and cook for 15 seconds.  Slowly add 1/2 cup hot broth and the saffron or turmeric to the rice mixture, stirring constantly.  Continue to cook and stir over medium heat until broth has been absorbed and the mixture is creamy (this should take about 20-25 minutes). 

Remove the risotto from heat.  Stir in the butter, cheese and pepper.  Serve immediately.  Makes 8-10 servings

Per serving: about 183 calories

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I must say, I was so incredibly excited about this challenge when I saw it.  I have never had a French macaron, but have seen them on the internet and they just look so good.  I love the way you can have so many different flavor combinations and they are just so fancy looking!

So I decided I wanted to try some raspberry macarons with pink peppercorn buttercream I had seen here.  I got all my ingredients and tried it out using the Daring Baker's recipe.  To get the raspberry flavor I added some dried raspberry powder and two drops of red food coloring. 

Before baking, I had scoured the Daring Bakers' forums reading everything I could about making macarons.  I did my very best to follow everyone's tips.  When I put my macarons in the oven I was so excited! I couldn't wait to see their crisp shells with chewy centers and their smooth flat bottoms with the ever desired "feet". 

I opened the oven and I had ... sticky Milano cookies?

*sigh*

So, I tried to dry them out as best I could so I could get them off the sheet.  I filled them with a little chocolate ganache and called it a day, vowing to try again.

I saw David Lebovitz had a recipe that looked promising that other Daring Bakers' had some success with.  So, today, I gave that one a try.

The meringue was very, very thick.  It was very sturdy and it seemed nearly impossible to deflate.  It was much easier to work with than the Daring Bakers' recipe.  When I piped it out I was a little disappointed to see that I had peaks on nearly all my macarons.  I had heard this could happen so I used a damp finger to gently flatten them out, which is what I read you were supposed to do when this happened.

I popped them in the oven and 15 minutes later ...  BLAM!  I had the feet!  I had domed tops (though slightly peaked, the damp finger didn't quite take care of it all the way).  However, I was worried that maybe they might stick to the parchment like the last disaster.  So I let them stay in the oven a little longer.  Then, I let them sit in a cooling oven for a little bit, not even an hour.  When they came off the parchment easily I took them out of the oven to cool.

I was so excited!  Sure they had little peaks, but they were macarons!  I couldn't wait to find out what it was all about!  When they were cool enough, I slathered some chocolate-peanut butter ganache in between and took a bite... CRUNCH!

They were so crunchy, I was sure I had messed up again.  I know they are supposed to be crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside... this is not what I had created.  They were crunchy all the way through like a meringue.

They were tasty, don't get me wrong, I ate several of them!  But, they were not macarons.  But, I think I know what I did wrong.  I let the past experience steer me in the wrong direction.  I should have taken them out of the oven right at 15 minutes, or maybe a little before.  Next time, that is exactly what I will do.   And someday, I will try those raspberry pink peppercorn macarons for real.

I will say, macarons may be one of the most difficult and finicky things I have ever tried to make.  I will try them again sometime, but for now, I guess I'm just happy that I got feet! :D

(Below is the Daring Bakers' recipe from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern)  The recipe for these pictures (2nd attempt at macarons, is linked above)

French Macarons

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen. Ami's note: My yield was much smaller than this. I produced about two dozen filled macaroons.

Fill with buttercream, jam, or ganache of your choice.

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

 As part of the Daring Bakers Challenge, we were required to make puff pastry from scratch.  We were allowed to fill them with whatever we wanted.  I went in a very "American" direction and filled mine with homemade macaroni and cheese and barbecued pulled pork.  My thinking with the macaroni and cheese was that you often find homemade mac and cheese topped with toasted buttered bread crumbs.  What better way to mimic that than with tasty homemade puff pastry?  The vols-au-vent contained the mac and cheese and the pulled pork nicely in an easy to eat container.  The puff pastry was very buttery and had just the right amount of salt.  With the leftover scraps I made cinnamon twists, which were very delicious.

The excellent thing is that now I have 32 ounces of leftover puff pastry frozen in my freezer.  Later I can use it to make things like palmiers and turnovers.  I can also use it to top pot pies.  Brilliant!

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough

From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Steph’s note: This recipe makes more than you will need for the quantity of vols-au-vent stated above. While I encourage you to make the full recipe of puff pastry, as extra dough freezes well, you can halve it successfully if you’d rather not have much leftover.

There is a wonderful on-line video from the PBS show “Baking with Julia” that accompanies the book. In it, Michel Richard and Julia Child demonstrate making puff pastry dough (although they go on to use it in other applications). They do seem to give slightly different ingredient measurements verbally than the ones in the book…I listed the recipe as it appears printed in the book. http://video.pbs.org/video/1174110297/search/Pastry

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent

Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent

In addition to the equipment listed above, you will need:
-well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)
-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
-your filling of choice

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

*For additional rise on the larger-sized vols-au-vents, you can stack one or two additional ring layers on top of each other (using egg wash to "glue"). This will give higher sides to larger vols-au-vents, but is not advisable for the smaller ones, whose bases may not be large enough to support the extra weight.

*Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vols-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.

*Shaped, unbaked vols-au-vent can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).

 These muffins are fabulous!  They are tender with juicy summer peaches and a crumbly, slightly salty streusel on top.  This recipe is adapted from Carole Walter's Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins and More.  Normally, I freeze leftover muffins for later use, but the recipe says they don't freeze well.  However, they did keep fairly well and were still very tasty the next day when kept in a covered container.

Whole Wheat Peach Muffins

Adapted from Carole Walter's Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins and More.

Makes about 16 muffins

Ingredients

2-3 ripe peaches (8 1/2 ounces)

1 cup all purpose flour, spooned in, leveled off

3/4 cup stone ground whole wheat flour, spooned in, leveled off

1/2 cup oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, slightly firm

2 tablespoons honey

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk (or "soured milk" using this method)

1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans

Whole Wheat Streusel (recipe follows)

Directions

1. Prepare Streusel and set aside.

2. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease or line 16 muffin cups.

3. Cut the peaches into 1/2 inch pieces. (You may want to peel the peaches first, but I didn't.  Here is one way to peel peaches)

4. In a blender or food processor, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Pulse 4 times to blend.

5. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the honey and mix on medium speed for about 1 minute.  Add the brown sugar and mix for 1 minute longer.  Blend in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add the vanilla, mix and then scrape down the sides of the bowl.

6. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour.  Do not overmix.  Fold in the pecans with a rubber spatula.

7.  Portion half scoops of the batter into the prepared muffin tins.  Place a layer of peaches on top of the batter, then place a dollop of batter on top of the fruit.  Take a handful of streusel topping and crumble it over the batter and peaches, completely covering the top of each muffin.  Press it in gently to adhere it to the muffin. 

8.  Bake for 22-25 minutes until the topping is browned.  Make sure to rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back 3/4 of the way through the baking time.

Whole Wheat Streusel

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup stone ground whole wheat flour, spooned in, leveled off

1/2 cup all purpose flour, spooned in, leveled off

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Melt the butter in the microwave on 50% power for 30 - 45 seconds.  Cool.

2. Place 1/4 cup oatmeal, brown sugar, flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and salt in a blender or food processor.  Pulse to blend.  Add the last 1/4 cup of oatmeal and stir in with a spoon (don't blend it in).  Empty the oat mixture into the butter and toss with a fork until crumbs are formed. 

3. Gently squeeze the mixture with your hand to form larger lumps, then break them apart with your fingertips.  Let stand 10-15 minutes before using.

1 muffin = about 286 calories each (5.3 grams protein, 13.5 grams fat, 52 grams cholesterol, 2.9 grams fiber)

After the State Fair Oatmeal bread competition, I have been wanting to try other oatmeal bread recipes to see if I can find one that I like really well.  I had a hankering to try this bread because it had steel cut oats in it, and I had a bag sitting in my pantry that I wanted to use up.  I would make this bread again because it uses whole grains, is  light, has good flavor, and the steel cut oats add some nice little nuggets of chewiness. 

2 loaves, 14 servings per loaf (serving size: 1 slice)

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful
of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos
Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus:  Exquisite
Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. 

This was my first attempt at a Dobos Torte and I thought it went pretty well.  I used some leftover strawberry buttercream from these cupcakes and it went really well with my Amaretto soaked cake layers.

I followed the recipe as posted below with the exception of using the buttercream recipe linked above.  Also, instead of baking many round layers, I just halved the recipe and baked two layers in jelly roll pans and cut out the layers with a large circular cutter to make two 12 layer cakes.  I also used almonds instead of hazelnuts.

I had a little issue with the caramel covered cake pieces and didn't quite care for the "lemon-y" caramel, but otherwise this challenge went pretty well.  It was a very pretty cake!

I'm kind of weird.  Sometimes, when I first try something, especially if it is something that someone has claimed is "really good", I usually don't become enamored with it right away.  It isn't really a conscious thing.  I really want to like some stuff as much as my dining partners and this is in no way a snobby thing.  I really don't know what it is.  But the awesome thing, is that after a span of time, sometimes a week, sometimes months, a craving for that food will just hit me out of no where. 

One example is Gene and Jude's.  This is a very popular hot dog place in the Chicago area.  My husband's family loves it and my husband was so excited to take me there the first time we went.  It's one of those great "dives" that serves awesome food.  They fry their fries in lard and put them directly on your hot dog and just roll it all up together.  It's incredibly good.  However, the first time I tried it, I was not really impressed.  I thought, this is good.  But it isn't amazing. 

Well, fast forward about 3 months while I'm driving home from work thinking about what to have for dinner.  Then it hit me!  Oh man, I totally wanted a Gene and Jude's hot dog.  How could I ever have thought that those hot dogs really weren't that great.  Too bad I live in Iowa and Gene and Judes is in Illinois...

This same scenario has happened multiple times with multiple foods.  It happened with these spring rolls.

One of my best friends (F.) and I went down to the Des Moines Farmer's Market to get wonderful produce and tasty food.  She raved about the spring rolls at the farmer's market and so we got one.  I thought they were good, but wasn't overwhelmed by their goodness.  The mint kind of weirded me out.  I actually preferred my fried egg roll much more at the time. 

Then, it hit me out of nowhere about a week later.  After making about 1 million cinnamon rolls in preparation for the State Fair competition one evening I decided that I had to have one of those spring rolls again!  But, I wasn't able to attend the Farmer's Market that weekend!  What was I to do?

I made them myself.  Well, actually F. and I made them together and it was super fun!   They were incredibly easy to make.  So easy that there really isn't a recipe, but I'll do my best. 

This sandwich is easy to prepare and easy to adapt to your own tastes. In fact, this particular version of this sandwich is nothing like the original recipe that inspired it. I think I saw the idea for this sandwich in a Kraft advertisement or something like that and became excited at the possibilities. I usually make this sandwich using turkey, ham, cheddar, jack cheese, spinach, with Brianna's Zesty French Dressing spread on the insides and top of the hollowed out bread.

However, this time I took it in a different direction and was really happy with the results. Great for a make ahead dinner!

Hearty Baked Sandwich

Serves 4

1 large "artisan style" unsliced bread (I used a round Pan Bigio but have used other types of bread with success)

2 large red peppers, roasted*

1 ball fresh mozzarella

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 lb. roasted deli turkey or chicken

fresh basil and parsley, chopped, to taste

1 cup baby spinach leaves

1/2 cup of zesty french dressing (I like Brianna's)

Directions

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Slice about 1/3 off the top of the bread. Pull out much of the bread from the center leaving about 1/2 inch of bread all the way around so you have a "bread bowl" (save the bread for another use like bread pudding or dressing). Mix the parmesan with the parsley and basil. Spread the dressing evenly on the insides of the bread and on the cut side of the "bread top". Layer the remaining ingredients evenly in the "bread bowl" as follows:

1/2 the chicken/turkey

1/2 the mozzarella

1 roasted red pepper

spinach

1/2 parmesan herb mixture

1/2 the chicken/turkey

1/2 the mozzarella

1 roasted red pepper

1/2 the parmesan herb mixture (to help adhere the bread top to the sandwich)

(If the sandwich seems too full to put the top on, don't worry, stuff the top on anyway and wrap the foil tightly. The sandwich ingredients will cook down and the sandwich will shrink some). Top with the "bread top" and wrap tightly in foil, twice. Bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour until hot all the way through. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing into quarters to serve.

*To roast red peppers, turn the broiler on high. Rub the outsides of the red peppers lightly with olive oil. Place under the broiler and roast, checking and turning every 2-3 minutes until blackened on all sides. When blackened on all sides, place in a bowl and cover with a towel and let cool for about 5-10 minutes. When, cool enough to handle, gently peel off the charred skins, slit open and remove the seeds.