Saturday I’m hosting a party/open house for local participants of Back-tack 3 (Back-tack is essentially a crafty swap). I am looking forward to it, but the last time I had an open house? I baked for a week, and on the day of the party there was a torrential storm, and only a couple people came.
But anyway, I baked and baked today. I was hoping to have lots of delicious food to distract guests from noticing how scary and weird our house is. Now, I know I talk about food and baking all the time, but to be perfectly honest, I am not a naturally talented cook. I am a follower of directions. Today I followed directions, but I also had to improvise quite a bit.
First up was the most successful baked good of the day: icebox shortbread from Martha. I split the dough in half and made earl grey and currant from one half and matcha with the other half. I kind of went nuts with the matcha, so only the matcha-brave should try them:
I then made a couple batches of gougeres, one with gruyere and one with red bell pepper. I overbaked the gruyere batch, and the red pepper one was so runny I had to use a mini muffin tin!
Next I started to make the Daniel Boulud Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes with Mocha Ganache and Mascarpone Cream (I KNOW, can you believe how yummy that sounds?) that I read about here and here, but I already screwed them up. I overfilled the cupcake liners, leaving NO ROOM for the mocha ganache. So, I guess I’ll skip the ganache and just pipe on the mascarpone cream.
On a positive note, however, Alison, one of the lovely hostesses of Back-tack, sent an incredible party package from Australia, so we shall not go hungry at the party!
I am equally excited about this variety pack of Thomas Kemper sodas:
