Midnight Bakery

Christmas cookies!

August 2014

Christmas cookies I just whipped up in like 30 min.

September 2011.

August 2011.

Quatrefoil cupcakes!

May 2011.

February 2011.

Fruit sugar cookies, in blueberry (purple), peach (peach), and raspberry (alizarin). I modified my favorite soft cookie recipe to replace the egg and oil with pureed fruit. I realized about a day later that I had accidentally just made vegan cookies! If only I had whole wheat flour then, I could have made them even *healthier*!

Recipe: Drop Sugar Cookies (from Taste of Home "Cookies" cookbook)

Ingredients: 

1-1/3 c pureed fruit (original recipe: 2 eggs + 2/3 c vegetable oil)

3/4 c sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Total pureed fruit volume will be 1-1/3 c, which is a 1:1 ratio of liquid for fruit. Extensive Internets research* confirmed the same 1/4 to 1/3 volume for a "large"-size egg. I used to buy liquid egg for ease of breakfast-making, and the package said to use 1/3 liquid egg for baking, so I applied that here. They turned out great.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Beat fruit puree, sugar, and vanilla until blended;

Combine flour, baking powder, salt in separate bowl;

Gradually beat flour mixture into liquid ingredients;

Drop rounded teaspoons / roll onto greased baking sheets, flatten;

Bake 7-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned; let cool 1-2 minutes before removing to wire racks.

September 2010.

Fondant, tiered mini-cakes for my friend's birthday! Colors via Wilton gel colors. The cake part was actually gluten-free Betty Crocker chocolate cake, with extra cocoa.

September 2010.

"Radioactive" cupcakes for my brother's birthday. Idea gained from the following exchange:

Brother: "HEY [BFF]! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NUCLEAR WARHEAD?" BFF: "I THINK IT'S UPSTAIRS!"

At this point, Brother runs upstairs from basement; he & BFF run back downstairs with a neon yellow Nerf rocket with a radiation symbol drawn on it in black sharpie... with a little x-mas sized light inside, which made the radiation symbol glow. In the dark. It was pretty much awesome.

Anyway, it's white cake, buttercream, and a lot of gel food coloring. Symbols made from white chocolate with food color, via a combination of a Photoshop, parchment paper, an icing tip, and the freezer.

June 2010.

June 2010.

June 2010.

Les macarons citron & chocolat! That's right - ONE "O"!

Lemon: Filled with homemade lemon curd, courtesy of my co-chef Melanie. I do not recall which recipe we used, but translated from French, it called for "one robot with knife" (food processor).