Day Ten - Milk Chocolate Florentine Cookies

I found this recipe in my favorite cook book: The Nestlé Tollhouse Cookbook. I love it so much. It surprised me at the amount of time that it took to make though.

The dough was gross and had the consistency of really sticky oatmeal. But once it was cooked it flattened out and made really nice florentine cookies.

Then I  had to put a layer of chocolate on the bottom of one and make a sandwich with the other. This proved to be a very messy and tedious job. I've only made nine full cookies, but tomorrow I'm going to take the rest of the florentine cookies and make the sandwiches!

-Elizabeth

Day Nine - Lemon Bars

My mom's best friend, Laura, has always made the best lemon bars, but I was unable to get her recipe, so instead I used a recipe from a Charlie Brown cookbook. It even came with a cartoon!

The recipe was really easy. I made a dough for the crust.

Then there was the lemon filling.

Finally, powdered sugar.

They were great! It was such an easy recipe!

-Elizabeth

Day Eight - Strawberry Sorbet

If I had to pick a favorite fruit, it would have to be the strawberry. I love them. So, when I found the recipe for strawberry sorbet... well... how could I resist?

First I had to cut and stem the strawberries.

Then I had to add sugar and lemon juice and blend them together to make a sort of smoothie.

Once I had my smoothie, I put it in my ice-cream  maker and waited until it was done!

It was a wonderful summer treat that everyone loved!

-Elizabeth

Day Seven - Cinnamon Swirl Bread

I have always loved baking bread, but normally I stick to the basics. A nice white bread. Not wheat, I am not a wheat-bread-eating-person. But for this, I decided to try something different, and when looking in one of our many recipe books i found a recipe for cinnamon swirl bread. One of my favorite kinds of bread in the world.

It took me hours to make this bread. First I had to mix everything. Then I had to knead it for twelve minutes. Yes. Twelve. Then I let it rise for two hours.

After that, I had to roll it out and spread the cinnamon mixture on it and then I had to roll it up again. Of course, it had to rise. Again. For another hour.

Finally, I put it in the oven. When it came out, I had some difficulty figuring out whether it was done or not. The recipe told me that it should be 185 degrees in the center of the bread. But while the inside was at 140 degrees, the outside was at 200. Fearing that it would burn the outside, I took it out. It was perfect.   Out of all of the things I have made so far, this is my favorite. It was amazing!

-Elizabeth

So Much For A One-Day-Hiatus...

Friday night I got home around 11 and was exhausted. I also had my computer taken away.

Saturday, I woke up late, had to help clean the house, and then had guests over until 11 and promptly went to bed. Still no computer.

Sunday, I made cinnamon swirl bread and strawberry sorbet, but neither of them were finished when I went to bed. Again, no computer.

Monday, I finished up the bread and the sorbet and took some pictures but was unable to make any finalized pictures. Finally, computer.

Plans for Tuesday: Wake up at 9. Bake lemon bars and milk chocolate florentine cookies. Take pictures. Post online.

I will be caught up. I will.

Also, I'm convinced I'm becoming a cat, the number of hours I'm awake during the day is shortening. Please call for help if I start meowing.

-Elizabeth

Day Seven - Hiatus

So, it's 10:41PM and I really don't feel like finding a recipe, making it, let alone cleaning up after it, so I am going to be combining Day Seven and Day Eight. Meaning, tomorrow I will be making two things. But they will be good things. I swear. Sorry about this, but I'm just too tired.

-Elizabeth