Brownies and Bacon cookies? Yeah, bacon.

I've already had a few baking with Beischer's this school year and haven't had very much time to post about them. But since I've got a lot of homework to do, what better way to procrastinate then to blog? Last week I baked the best brownie I've EVER had. Seriously, they were amazing. And trust me, I've had many, many brownies in my lifetime. I have to thank Zesty cook.com for the amazing recipe (I've decided to start posting them on here). I don't have any pictures unfortunately :( They aren't kidding when they say they will change your life. Just make them. Right now, if not sooner.

This weeks baking with Beischer included one of the most daring recipes I've ever attempted. Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies. I love bacon and I love chocolate chip cookies, but I was skeptical about putting them together. The results were spectacular. And the recipe made a TON. Like close to 6 dozen cookies or some crazy amount. They were small, but I had plenty to bring home from Jeffrey's for my house. Ironically, this was the weekend that 3 out of 8 of the housemates were gone for the weekend when we had the most leftover baked goods. This recipe comes courtesy of one of my favorite food blogs, Pete Bakes!. Did I mention the bacon was candied? Heaven on earth, I know :D

The Brownie That Will Change Your Life

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
35 (10 oz. package) caramels, unwrapped
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine cake mix and nuts.

3. Stir in 2/3 cup evaporated milk and butter (batter will be thick).

4. Spread half of batter into ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

5. Bake for 15 minutes.

6. Heat caramels and remaining evaporated milk in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted. Sprinkle morsels over brownie; drizzle with caramel mixture.

7. Drop remaining batter by heaping teaspoon over caramel mixture.

8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set; cool on wire rack in pan.

(Recipe via Zesty Cook via Nestle Toll House )


Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies and Candied Bacon

Candied Bacon
1 pckg thick cut bacon (about 10 strips)
brown sugar for sprinkling

Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
12 oz toll house semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1. make the candied bacon: preheat the oven to 350 F. lay bacon on a parchment covered baking sheet so they are not overlapping. sprinkle about 2 tsp brown sugar evenly on each strip of bacon. bake for 12 minutes, remove from oven, flip bacon and drag it through the syrupy liquid that’s collected on the baking sheet. put the bacon back in the oven for another 12-15 minutes, until it is fully cooked and very dark (mahogany). remove the strips from the sheet and cool on a wire rack. after they have cooked, chop them or quickly food process into tiny pieces.

2. make the cookies: combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. beat butter, both sugars and vanilla in a large bowl. add eggs, one at a time, beating well. gradually beat in flour mixture. stir in morsels and bacon pieces.

3. spoon dough (about a Tbsp per cookie) onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 375 F for 9-11 minutes. i tend to go a little under 9 minutes so they come out just underdone. remove to cooling racks or eat immediately with a tall glass of cold milk.

(Recipe via Pete Bakes!)

September is the bane of my existence

Anyone that knows me fairly well knows that I do not like the month of September. For the past five years or so, September has just made me plain sad, regardless if things are going good or bad in my life. If I could, I would skip the month entirely and go from August, filled with hot, sunny days lazily lounging by the pool sipping Arnold Palmers, and straight to the cool, crisp days days of October, filled with the promise of cozy sweaters, pumpkin carving and Halloween. However, since this isn't possible I've decided to try and be more optimistic about it and make a list of my favorite things about September.

1. Spring/Summer Fashion Week!!
-This is one part of September that I actually look forward to immensely, considering I love being able to sit and look at all the new trends and clothes that the designers put out.

2. Pumpkin Flavored things :D
-Thanks goes to my girl Bre for reminding me about how the official start of fall and cooler weather makes me happy because then I can turn my baking pursuits from summertime fruits and flavors such as lemon, lime, peach and strawberry into apple, pumpkin, cinnamon and clove.

3.The Rocky Horror Picture Show!
-Once a month a theatre on James Island performs the RHPS, and although this isn't exclusively a September thing, Jeffrey and I have been talking about going for almost a year and finally did last night, so I feel it deserves a spot. The best part was Jeffrey and Gage dressed in drag (pictures to follow soon)

4. Settling into the school year
-Although this may seem like a bad thing for most people, being able to have free time, not have to work a full time job and spend time with my friends at school (particularly my new housemates!) are all good things for me.

5. Football Season
-I'm not a big football fan, but I do like watching the games and tailgaiting

6. Cardigan weather
-I love cardigans in all shapes and sizes :D

7. The humidity
-Summer is horrible on my hair. I have to use no less than 3 different products in it just to tame it into submission and thankfully the cooler weather also means better hair days!

Big Girl Job

Rainbow cakes :D

So I haven't updated in awhile. This, my friends, is because I have what I like to refer to as a Big Girl Job. This means that I work full time and therefore have very little time to blog. But, don't worry, I'm back :) Summer has been really good so far, I've gone to Charleston, Hilton Head Island, Pennsylvania and mostly just worked and hung out with my friends. I've also done a lot of baking in my spare time. So far I've baked a total of 6 birthday cakes, and I'm baking one more tonight. Two of the really special ones are a dinosaur cake and 2 rainbow cakes! I'll put up some pictures of those. I also made pain au chocolates, which are chocolate filled French pastries that are to die for! I've loved these ever since I went to London during Summer 2008 and found them in this little bakery near where we stayed in Hampstead and got one almost every morning. They are buttery and chocolately and amazing. I found a great recipe for them here, courtesy of Epicurious. If you haven't already had them, hunt them down and buy as many as possible, or better yet, make them :) I also tried my hand at making a chocolate blueberry cupcake, which turned out...interesting. I used a family recipe for chocolate cake, and then added blueberries. I must've added too much flour or something because they came out more like a mousse, which I found to be a really weird texture in a cupcake and decided it was a baking failure. However, my mom, who is a very hard person to please when it comes to what I bake, loved them. She actually called me when she was at work and told me how much she loved them. So much for a failure :)

Chocolate Blueberry Cupcakes and Pain au chocolates :)

Southern Belle

Things have been crazy since summer started. With what you ask? Well, laying out by the pool, a quick weekend trip to Charleston, seeing old friends, baking and job hunting. Therefore, I've been neglecting my blog. I'm going to post a mass baking with Beischer entry about all of the wonderful things I've been baking (which I've been doing a lot of) but first I wanted to share a really great new company/blog/website I've become obsessed with. Southern Protocol is a company based in Charleston, SC dedicated to being "The Southern Fashionista's source on how to look, behave and entertain with style, charm, and grace." They do style consultations, etiquette classes, different events around Charleston and write a witty, classy blog. The blog is written by Lizz Akerman, the owner, and Sara Hosch, the company's executive assistant and lead stylist. It covers style, SP events, Charleston happening and anything related to all things classy and fabulous. It's definitely worth checking out. I would absolutely love working for this company. It's a really fresh concept and perfect for Charleston society. Wanna hire me?

Sweet Summertime

Coming home from college is a very strange thing. You spend ten months being independent, doing whatever you want, whenever you want and then you come home and suddenly it feels as if you're right back in high school. As happy as I am for school to be over, being away from Charleston, not seeing my friends that aren't in Greenville, and getting a big girl job aren't too exciting. However, I am very excited to make money, travel (even if its just within the U.S.), read all of the books I haven't had time to read, spend time with friends I didn't get to see very much during the year, bake all of the things I couldn't during the year because I needed expensive ingredients or an electric mixer, get a tan, and hopefully do some shopping too. In classic Ali fashion, I should be asleep right now, but I'm not. Seems like summer doesn't change old habits. I have three Baking with Beischer's to update you kids on including Bacon-Wrapped Pretzels, S'mores cookies and Petit Pain au Chocolat, so stay tuned now that I actually have the time to update this regularly :) Oh and I think that the blue streak is her to stay:

My blue hair streak inspiration, courtesy of my favorite style rookie, Tavi, (courtesy of Pop)

Clothes Thieves

So I've been really busy the past few weeks, considering its exam time here at CofC and have TWO baking posts to update you kids on. But for now, its time to rant. I've had a pretty rough week, with finals, the end of my year long relationship with my boyfriend Dylan and to top it all off, some of my clothes were stolen out of the dryer in my dorm. I've lived here for the past 10 months and have never had any trouble with clothes thieves. I'm usually really good about getting my laundry out of the dryer promptly but not because I was ever worried about them being taken, but because wrinkled clothes are on of my biggest pet peeves. However, the one time that I am not prompt about taking my clothes out of the dryer because I was having too much fun watching the O.C. with Angela, someone decides to go through my load and just have themselves a shopping spree courtesy of my closet. I was even more lax about getting my clothes out of the dryer because half of the girls in my building have left for summer because their exams are over. The only things I am sure that someone took are a yellow 3/4 sleeve v-neck shirt from Old Navy, A cornflower blue H&M cardigan and my beloved, only worn twice teal and black romper from Target. Although these were not expensive articles of clothing, I am not happy that they are no longer in my possession. I'm truly hoping that this was an honest mistake and that they will turn up, considering this was the last thing I needed after having such a rough week. Instances like this make me really untrustworthy of humanity. I hope whoever took them at least looks good in them, because we all know I sure did :)

Cartoon Karl

Quick post, found the coolest thing ever. What is it you ask? A lifetime supply of baked goods? A pass to take anything you want out of the Vogue closet? EVEN BETTER!! Cartoon Karl Lagerfeld :) If you don't know who Karl is and we are friends, do not tell me because then I will wonder how I could possibly hang out with someone SO uncultured. Look him up, he's a genius.

Real Karl and Cartoon Karl :D

Sources: Daily Front Row and NYC.com