Taste Like Home Reminder

You still have until this Friday June 27th to sign up for the *Taste Like Home* local goodie swap. If you think that you might want in, you can find all the details right here and here.

Thank all of those who have already signed up! Now is the time that the Farmer's Market's are getting stocked with tons of local items, don't you want to share? If so, send a little note to myself at aprilsattic@comcast.net and Megan and cookinmeg@gmail.com.

TWD-Peppermint Cream Puff Ring....

....or something like that. Ok...so I haven't even started this one. It has been a crazy life at the Love household for the last 2 weeks, so hopefully this is a start of it slowing down. My TWD will become a Wednesday with Dorie for this week. Go ahead and start checking out the other TWD chicks, and all of those great looking eclairs and cream puffs and cream puff rings...they all are looking delish!

Cupcake Hero

I am super excited about this month's Cupcake Hero. Laurie, the Quirky Cupcake herself, decided to take a CH vacation through the Summer, and has allowed me to host for the month of June. I have to say that I am nervous, and really excited about it! Next month, you will also have a surprise hostess. So, I was allowed to choose the theme, I get to test all of the entries (this will be the best part) and then I will get to choose the winner. I am assuming, that this will be the hardest part!

Are you ready to know what the theme is?

You guessed it! MELON!

As long as you use any type of melon for this edition of Cupcake Hero, you are good to go. So go ahead and get to thumping those melons!

If you want to participate, send your cupcakery to April at aprilsattic AT comcast DOT net by June 30.

Send me your:

*Name
*Your blog name and URL*
*Link to your Cupcake Hero entry
*Picture of your cupcakery (250 width is preferred)

This month the theme is Melon, which must be used in the cake, frosting or filling. Come on your CH lovin' people, get to making me some cupcakes!

TWD-La Palette's Strawberry Tart

I am sorry to say that I have no Strawberry Tart to show for this week. It was a great choice chosen by Marie at A year in Oak Cottage. Light and simple and even better made with fresh berries. Go ahead and check out the rest of the TWD chicks, I am sure that there are some delicious looking tarts!

Next week is Peppermint Cream Puff Ring chosen by Caroline at A Consuming Passion.

**Go and check out the Taste Like Home event hosted by myself and Megan of Megan's Cookin**

Taste Like Home

Walking around the farmers market, I always see plenty of local area goodies. We have olive orchards and pecan orchards near by as well as honey, jams and spice blends. One of my favorite locals sells a killer mango chutney. When I look around, I see plenty of local staples that say *Taste like Home* to me. We think these local treasures would be fun to share.

April from Abby Sweets and Megan from Megan's cookin are hosting a goodies exchange featuring local area goodies. If you would like to join us in a local area goodies exchange, send your name, mailing address, e-mail address, and blog name and blog URL to either aprilsattic@comcast.net or to me at cookinmeg@gmail.com. Let us know if you'll send internationally. We will match up partners and have a round up of the participating blogs.

We ask that you post about the goodies you receive and include links back to both myself and Megan. Sign ups end June 27th. So, what do you say?

Want to share your *Taste Like Home* with someone?

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I've been tagged....twice in the same week!

Megan from My Baking Adventures and Christine from Blender's Galore have both tagged me this week for a meme. I hope that they will both forgive me if I only still post 5 things, instead of , because I really don't think that I could come up with ! So, here goes...

The rules: Each participant answers questions about himself. At the end of the post the participant tags 5 people. Their names are posted letting them know they’ve been tagged. They then have to read the participant’s blog. The tagged let’s the tagger know when he’s posted his answers.

What was I doing ten years ago?
Ten years ago, I had 2 kids, 3 yrs and 8 months. Working and taking care of babies.
What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:
*Take my daughter for a test at the children's hospital (had to be there at 9:30)
*Take her to lunch at the hospital cafeteria (there is nothing better than a hospital grilled cheese!)
*Take her to the doctors office to get the results of the test (couldn't get in there until 1, which really turned out to not see the Dr until 2...)
*Clean the kitchen
*Cook dinner

5 Snacks I enjoy:
*marshmallow popcorn
*chocolate
*string cheese
*peanut butter and apple
*cantaloupe and watermelon

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
I would make sure that my family was taken care of. Own a house on the beach. Travel, to lots of places all over the world. Probably adopt like 10 kids!

Places I have lived:
This is a boring one..I have only ever lived in Knoxville, TN. Exciting, huh?

Jobs I have had:
Kmart
Baskin Robbins
Thompson Cancer Center
Captain D's
And where I am now, Child Neurology (part time)

now for the fun part:
I tag…….
Lisa at Bumblebutton
Jeanine at Baking Beauties
Sarah at Sweet Endeavors
Carla at Chocolate Moosey
Megan at Megan's cookin

So, there it is! :)

TWD-French Chocolate Brownies

A few weeks ago Blake Makes had a giveaway for Amano Chocolate, I was one of the lucky recipients of this sweet treat. I had never heard of them before, so I was excited to get to try it. The lucky ones received 3 bars of 3 different kinds, 2 oz each. (Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them) If you haven't checked out Blake yet, make sure you do! He has an awesome site, lots of giveaways and makes some wonderful PBDDL, also known as Peanut Butter Dulce De Leche. You won't be disappointed!



Now, what does this have to do with this weeks TWD recipe? These brownies needed 6 oz of chocolate...just the right recipe to use my Amano chocolate for! Di, from Di's Kitchen Notebook, was the lucky one to choose the recipe for this week. The original recipe called for rum infused raisins, but, I couldn't make myself put raisins in these brownies. Some other TWD chicks went on and added raisins and compared it to raisinettes in brownie form, others used other dried fruits and had great results. I still like my brownies just plain. I loved this brownie recipe. A few ingredients, quick to put together, and a short bake and you have fudgy brownies, with a thin crust on the top. I only had one problem, and that was when you completed mixing, the batter had the consistency of chocolate mousse! I almost ate all of the batter before I could get to the baking part!



Don't forget to check out the other TWD chicks and their take on this recipe. Next weeks recipe comes from Marie at A Year at Oak Cottage and we are using strawberries!



French Chocolate Brownies
- makes 16 brownies -Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.


Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden

1 1/2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup sugar


Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.
Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.


Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.


Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.


Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.
Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.


Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.


Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-along are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!


Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.