The Cheating Baker

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.


OK, here's the deal. I've always wanted to be a good cannoli maker. I grew up on Staten Island. My people are from Brooklyn. My first job was at a pretty popular Italian bakery. I mean, this should be in my DNA. But I never could make those shells. I tried. I gave up. I took a class at the Institute of Culinary Education. There were about 15 people in the class, a couple of them who baked/cooked for a living. We made delectable cannoli cream. Brilliant cassata. And pretty much every one of us made awful cannoli shells. Seriously. Awful. More Chinese won-ton than Italian cannoli.

So I panicked a little when Lisa Michele announced to The Daring Bakers that her challenge would be cannolis. But armed with chutzpah and a pasta maker, I decided to try again.

And I failed again.

I was a really pressed for time and I think my dough sensed that I was trying a little too hard. On Thanksgiving eve I had to surrender.

I decided to turn to the Italians.



I know, I know. I'm a total cheat. I'm the Milli Vanilli of the baking world. And Lisa Michele's hosting the challenge. She's a baker! She's a Yankees fan! I could not let my bloggy friend and kindred spirit down. So I picked myself up by the bootstraps and to make it up to her I made my own ricotta cheese from SCRATCH on Thanksgiving morning. I even used her recipe.



Click here to check out the recipe. It's really, really true: If you can boil water you can make ricotta! I can't wait to do this again.

The yield is really minimal -- four cups of milk reduced down to this:


There was quite a bit of liquid left, and I think the next time I will use the remaining strained milk to make a bread pudding so I'm not so wasteful.

To further kiss up make it up to Lisa, I made her pumpkin cannoli filling. I am so glad I did! Delish. A little looser than a traditional cannoli cream due to the addition of the pumpkin so I'd definitely give it a little longer in the refrigerator to firm up. I've posted her recipe below. It would also be brilliant as a filling in a layer cake.

I toasted and chopped some pecans to dress my cannoli, in lieu of the more traditional pistachio.



Does this mean I'll never try cannoli shells? I'm no quitter. Just like the bubbles on Lisa's picture-perfect shells, I too shall rise.

PUMPKIN CANNOLI FILLING

1/2 cup (123 grams/4.34 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1/2 cup (113 grams/4.04 ounces) mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup (122.5 grams/4.32 ounces) canned pumpkin, drained like ricotta
3/4 cup (75 grams/2.65 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/2 to 1 teaspoon (approx. 1.7 grams/approx. 0.06 ounces) pumpkin pie spice (taste)
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 2 grams/approx. 0.08 ounces) pure vanilla extract
6-8 cannoli shells

1. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta and mascarpone until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl, cover and chill until it firms up a bit. (The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).

2. Fill the shells as directed above. I dipped the ends of the shells in caramelized sugar and rolled them in toasted, chopped pecans.

The roast is in the oven.

And by roast I mean this:


Now, now...I just saw you roll your eyes.

For the first time in nearly 30 years as a vegetarian I'm trying a Tofurkey roast. Not sure how this will go, but I marinated it in vegetable broth, orange juice, sage, rosemary and sea salt. So if nothing else, I can drink the baste.

I actually became a vegetarian because I was watching the news with my mom and there was a story on turkeys. I made the connection, didn't eat the turkey the next day, and never ate meat again.

I guess you could say...I quit cold turkey. Ba-da-dum.

We're sending our warmest wishes from the shorehouse to your house this Thanksgiving (Mike wanted to get in on this, too, now that he knows he's a blog superstar). I am thankful for many things, and if you're a visitor to this here blog I am thankful you take time out of your day to spend some time with little ol' me.

Life in black and white.

Are you familiar with Springtree Road? If not, you should be. Maya is a wonderful photographer, and gifted artisan (I've never seen yarn more beautiful than her hand-spun ones, available in her Etsy shop).

For the month of November, all of the photos on her blog are in black and white. I've loved seeing the neutral world through Maya's eyes and lens this month...it's really a spectacular essay and I encourage you to visit her.

This week I've been cleaning-up -- cleaning up my house (three bags went to Sallie's Army), cleaning up my professional life (making piles at the office disappear...or trying to, while figuring out how to get more out of my day job), cleaning my to-do list (Christmas shopping -- pretty much done), and cleaning out some space on my camera...since there were apparently 511 pictures on there. Oops.

Some were black and whites from my trip to Paris last month. They are far from perfect, shot with my palm-sized point-and-shoot, but a few aren't half bad considering I'm definitely not a photographer.







A while back Maya shared some advice on her blog, which I believe was something like, "never, ever, ever, ever use the flash!" So I don't. With varying degrees of success.

Some day I'd like to take photography lessons. But I have a whole lot of cleaning to do in my life before I can make the time for that to happen.

For now I'll just enjoy everyone else's!

Peak-a-boo, we found a pew.

It wasn't we so much as it was he. Here's how Op Pew went down:

Last week, Mike headed out on an uncharacteristically beautiful November day for what I like to call "a Lance Armstrong bike ride." About an hour later, my phone rang...

Laura: Hello?

Mike: I'm at a yard sale.

L: Who IS this? (Ed. note: Mike at a yard sale is analogous to me at a hunting convention. And I'm a vegetarian, fyi.)

M: I saw a pew so I pulled over.

L: OK, really who is this?

(Ed. note: We were looking for something to put against the long wall in the Napoleon Room, and he mentioned how a church pew would be nice. As knocked over as I was when he came up with that, I was now beside myself with pride that he actually found one!)

M: I'm not sure it's exactly what we want...it's kind of plain, has a very high back...but it's $20.

L: I'm getting in the car NOW.

M: But...

L: TWENTY BUCKS!

The pew didn't fit in my trunk, so Mike and our friend Spence returned yesterday to pick it up in Spence's fancy big boy vehicle.

Mike and I wriggled and turned and maneuvered the pew up our hundred year-old staircase (how DID they get furniture up those things in olden days?), and introduced it to its new home in the Napoleon Room. You can see it around the bend when you first peak in the room...


...on the wall next to the bed. We need to do some reassigning of the antique plate rack above it, but I think the pew will work quite well there.


M: Am I going to make the blog?

L: You are SO making the blog.

Update: The feedback's been so great (thank you!) how could I not link-up to Thrifty Thursday? You should head over, too, to see who's thriftier than Mike. Though I can't imagine such a person exists. :-)

Wrapping up the week. And my laptop.

I decided I'd wrap up Thrifty Gift Week here by wrapping up my laptop. Literally.

As some of you who hang out here know I am a novice sewer. On my good days I can sew a straight line. On my really good days I can sew a straight line and get through a project without consulting the Singer's user guide. So when I tell you this is easy, believe me it's true.


I know, I know...this looks a little more hardcore crafty but it's a very basic sewing project. Click here to check out Jean's adorably easy-to-make bags and her step-by-step tutorial. I believe my little Type A friend has whipped up about 107 of them. Give or take.

Definitely click here to follow her directions, because, um, I don't measure or have very good technique. I whipped this up today and with minimal supplies and a bit of patience, you can do this.


My decision to do a laptop cover was guided by finding this scrap of quilted goodness in the remnant bin at JoAnn's:


You don't need a lot of fabric at all so I pulled two remnants out of my pile (you can use one piece if you want to make the inside and outside the same, but two pieces will allow you to use smaller remnants).

I will share the highlights (though that word's a bit of a stretch!) of my project...

Where Jean's directions call for fusible interface, I replaced with the quilting.

Make sure you allow for the depth of the laptop (and seam allowance. And I still can't believe I know what "seam allowance" means!). And since every laptop is different you're going to need to get your paws on the measurements for your recipient's.


You lay your fabrics out just as Jean tells you...nice sides kissing (right sides together), and then stick the quilty stuff (or batting) underneath...


You're going to sew it all together (all sides except the top), and flip it inside out so that the nice side are facing out, and the quilt is on the inside.

Since I, er, you haven't measured, stick that laptop in there one more time just to be sure it works out. Fold up the bottom...and you'll top-stitch the sides to form a bit of an envelope:


The top flap needs to be sealed shut, so you'll fold the flaps in an inch or so, and top stitch that, too:


At this point even I broke out a tape measure. I placed a piece of Velcro in the middle of the flaps that would come together to seal the case shut...


I never sewed Velcro before, and it was a bit of a pain not too bad. I sewed around twice, just to be sure it would stay in place.


It actually didn't look too bad at all once I finished...


...but I made sure in advance that I had a gigantic button ready to cover it right up...


Did I have problems along the way? You betcha.

Like when this happened...


...because when the quilted fabric folded into an envelope it was pretty thick, and my machine is far from a pro one.

And I knocked over a tray of snaps that I painstakingly had pieced together earlier in the morning.


But I had Project Runway on in the background, and when Tim Gunn told me to, "make it work," I did.

You can do smaller fabric envelopes for gift cards, make-up bags, pencil cases...the possibilities are endless.

But please follow Jean's tutorial. Because I really have no idea what I'm doing.

Monday - Tie one on! Bags from vintage men's ties.
Tuesday - DIY cake stands.
Wednesday - Bake up a thrifty gift.
Thursday - Tea for two

Tea for two. Or more.

It's day four of Thrifty Christmas here at the shorehouse and (shockingly) I'm still going strong.

We blog. We tweet. We text. We work. We commute. We take care of families. We work some more. We walk the dogs. We feed the cats. We clean the toilets. We do laundry. We fall up the stairs running to catch the phone. (Or is that one just me?)

Some people even do it all simultaneously. What happened to the art...of doing nothing?

Here's a gift idea: Take the time to get together with a friend or group of friends and have a tea party. Turn off the cell phones, and just...talk. Laugh. Spend silly time together. I can't think of a better gift than that.

Set-up is simple. Boil the water, grab a festive tea (cinnamon apple's nice), bake some cookies (or the brownies I posted yesterday) -- and better yet, display them on a handmade dessert stand. But before the big day, hit the thrift stores and pick up some tea cup and saucer sets. I really struck gold when I found these at a church rummage sale this summer...


They were on a table of mismatched pieces. My brother and I found some unblemished pairs among the rubble, and the price was right:


The cups were priced separately from the saucers, but still -- 50 cents a set? Score.

After the tea party, everyone takes their cup home with them. And every time they look at it they will remember your friendship, and the day you all made time....for time.

The Mad House and Violet Posy also have super easy tutorials for making soy candles in tea cups, another fabulous thrifty holiday gift. Plus, once the soy's finished the cup is still food safe so it's truly the gift that keeps on giving. Click here and here to hop over to their blogs and you'll be a master candle maker in no time.

More ideas from thrifty gift week:

Monday - Tie one on! Bags from vintage men's ties.
Tuesday - DIY cake stands.
Wednesday - Bake up a thrifty gift.
Today - Tea for two
Coming Friday - ??? (Seriously. I have no idea.)

Bake up a thrifty gift.

It's day three of Thrifty Christmas here at the shorehouse.

I found these jars filled with apple crisp "supplies" at a craft show the other week. Pair it with a vintage cookbook you pick up on a thrifting venture and you've got a gift that will make the baker in your life squeal. In a good way!


The jar has everything needed for an apple crisp (except the apples, which would have been hard to jam in that jar. Oh, and the butter. Because that would be rancid.). A crisp is the perfect thing to prepackage since most of the ingredients just get mashed up with butter and you don't need to whisk, separate, sift, etc. Just throw it in a bowl. My kind of recipe.

This is an easy idea to replicate. Canning jars, or any jar with a tight seal, can be found on the cheap (they're available at many dollar stores, including Jack's 99 Cent Store in Manhattan) and the crisp ingredients are for the most part already in your pantry. The Neelys over on Food Network have a very good crisp recipe, click here to get that one. (The addition of pecans is well worth it, I promise you.) I have tons of fabric scraps, and I think I'd rather use a fun retro fabric than a Christmasy one...I may even go crazy and top-stitch it. And the recipe card is calling out for a funky font and some retro clip art.

Speaking of recipes...yesterday there was a comment from the lovely Pat at Mille Fiori Favoriti asking about the recipe used for the brownies on my cake stand.


Good point! I actually love the recipe, and found it many years ago on a tin of cocoa powder. It's the shortbread crust that makes them super duper. So here it is...another suitable holiday foodie gift:

Brownies with Shortbread Crust

1-1/4 c. unsifted flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. cold butter
14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
8 oz semi sweet chocolate broken into pieces (or chips)
3/4 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans, or omit)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine 1 cup of flour and sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. Press onto bottom of 13" x 9" baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl beat sweetened condensed milk, cocoa, egg and remaining 1/4 cup of flour, vanilla and baking powder. Stir in chocolate pieces and nuts. Spread over prepared crust. Bake for 20 minutes or until center is set (so not overcook). Cool before cutting.

I used a heart shaped cookie cutter for a couple of the ones above to dress the plate a little, but adding a dash of ginger to the cocoa and using a gingerbread man cutter would be fun...in fact I'm filing that idea away in my mental Rolodex.

Thrifty week ideas from the shorehouse:

Monday - Tie one on! Bags from vintage men's ties.
Tuesday - DIY cake stands.
Coming Thursday - Tea for two (that was supposed to be today...whoops.)
Coming Friday - Jeez, I better get working on that!

Dishing out another thrifty gift.

I first "dished" on this a bit back in July 2008, but I wanted to bring it back along with some new ideas for your thrifty holiday gift giving consideration.

This DIY dessert stand is not only easy, it's well under $5 US if you play your thrifty cards right.


Get yourself a good epoxy glue. I use Goop, and I have to say it lives up to its promise of being pretty amazing. It's available at most crafty stores (I purchased it at Michael's for a few dollars) but I've also seen it at my local hardware store.


The "bases" are glass candlesticks I find at yard sales, thrift shops, rummage sales, etc. I've never paid more than $1 US for a pair (OK, once I think I paid $2 a pair and was kicking myself over the expense later), and you can often find mismatched singles for much less.

Just make sure the top "lip" is flat, since that's where you'll be affixing it to the dish.

It seems every yard or tag sale in my area has fancy dishes. And when I spy one in decent shape for a good price, I rarely pass it up.

Wash everything in warm soapy water and let them dry thoroughly before you begin. I just run the glass candlesticks through the dishwasher.

Following the instructions on the epoxy you're working with, affix the candlesticks to the underside of the plate and wipe away any excess with a damp towel.


Let them set upside-down for 24 hours, and voila...a bevvy of dessert stands!

The final product is totally hand washable but should not be immersed in water.

If you really want to go nuts, you can bake treats to gift with your plate. Here's my favorite brownies (under the watchful eyes of my four grandparents):

I've been finding a lot a lot glass domes that have been separated from their cheeseboard companions. When they're $2 or less, I pick them up to make the stands even fancier. The total cost for all of the supplies in this one below was $4.49:


Dishes without stands can be gussied up to make nice gifts, too. Here's a three for $4 set I bought at a local yard sale:

I always save packaging and gift boxes that I receive (much to my closet's chagrin), and found the perfect "nest" for one of the plates. I added a silver knife ($1) that I polished up and a vintage postcard ($2) that had a remarkably similar pattern to the dish!

You could look for vintage holiday-themed postcards, or find an electronic image of one you like and print it on card stock. And again, you can pair this with homemade goodies or cheese and crackers for a complete holiday hostess gift.

Yesterday: Tie one on -- wine carriers from men's ties.

Tomorrow: Baking up a thrifty gift.

Looking for more thrifty inspiration? Head over to Bloggeritaville.