Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade

For my design class, we were recently assigned a project to do an animation. At first, I was at a bit of a loss. My teacher showed us several examples of techniques we could use; many of them involved hand-drawing several hundred minutely varied frames. I tried to think how I could make this project something I was actually interested in, as many assignments during the foundation year at RISD are meant to be more skill-building and less interesting. However, I found a way to make this project one of my favorite things I've done this year because I got to combine my passions with my schoolwork. I actually did a little too much and have been assigned a second video to complete for two weeks from now, when this video was supposed to be due, but I finished far too early. It felt so great to be back to doing some food styling and photography. Even though this wasn't baking, I was back in the kitchen and it felt comfortable. Next year I will have all my supplies with along with a full kitchen, so expect a lot more posts next year. I know Pâtisserie Natalie has changed a lot over the years, but I think it will get back to some of its roots quite soon, which I'm excited about. But without further ado, here is my first ever recipe video, done in stop-motion animation. I had a blast making it and plan on making more in the future, along with perhaps some traditional videos. I look forward to exploring this new media, as well as getting back to some photography. I've missed it so much this year. Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade

1 cup fresh lemon juice (6-8 lemons)
1 12-ounce package frozen unsweetened raspberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1 1-liter bottle sparkling water, chilled
Ice cubes
Fresh raspberries

Grate lemon peel and juice lemons.
Combine frozen raspberries, sugar, and 1/2 cup water in medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and berries thaw. Increase heat and boil 3 minutes. Strain raspberry mixture into bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids in strainer. Mix lemon peel into raspberry syrup in bowl. Chill until cold.
Stir raspberry syrup, lemon juice, and sparkling water in large pitcher to blend. Fill 6 glasses with ice cubes. Pour raspberry lemonade into glasses. Add fresh raspberries to each glass, if desired. Garnish with lemon slices and serve.
please view the video in fullscreen and HD if possible








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Birthday and Update

Hi everyone. As most of you are aware, it's been over a year since I've done a full post. I know, I know: I've been really bad. My last year of high school has sort of needed my attention what with this little thing called college. Oh, yeah! College. Some of you might be wondering where I've decided to go and I'm proud to say that I've decided to attend the Rhode Island School of Design. It's a fantastic school and I'm a little nervous, but I'm really excited to start there in the fall. It's an extremely challenging school, so I have a feeling baking may have to take the backseat (again!) for a while, but I know that it's something I'll love to do for my entire life and it will come in and out of focus.
The post I'm putting up today is about my birthday I recently celebrated. My actual birthday fell on a Sunday this year. While I didn't celebrate on my actual birthday, I decided to host a Sunday brunch for all my girlfriends and go on a baking + decorating binge. A couple rooms of my house were decorated in entirely pink and gold (this was my color palette, duh!) as were the invitations and party favors. We used an instant camera to take pictures during the party, which was fun because everyone was dressed up nicely. As party favors, people got to take home two photos, along with some jelly beans.



I've mentioned this before, but not in detail, but i am obsessed with Martha Stewart. Everything from scone recipes to her not-so-secret cattyness. For my party, I basically scoured Martha Stewart.com for hours finding ideas, photo galleries, and how-tos. Some of you might recognize the tissue paper pompoms that you can buy online from her site. I made mine using a tutorial on marthastewart.com since I'm pretty crafty (see, art school) and hung them from the ceiling using thread, duct tape, and medical tape (to hide the duct tape).



The brunch was practically an ode to Martha. Almost every recipe was one I've adapted from her. Here was the menu:

Glazed Lemon Pound Cake
Spiced Banana Bread
Orange-Poppy Scones with Butter + Jam
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Bacon
Asparagus, Potato, Cheddar, & Leek Frittata
Doughnuts from Mighty O
Cranberry Sparklers
Sparkling Cider with Cara Cara Orange Punch
Pink Grapefruit Margaritas

The drinks above are links to the pages on Marthastewart.com where you can find the recipes.




Glazed Lemon Poundcake
Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter; softened
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons lemon zest
2/3 cup lemon juice
5 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk together in a large bowl thoroughly, and set aside.In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until smooth.
In a medium bowl, stir together yogurt, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Add the eggs to the butter and sugar one at a time, beating in between each addition.
With the mixer on a low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the yogurt mixture in 2 parts. Start and end with the flour mixture. Grease and flour a 9" bundt pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean and the top begins to brown slightly. Let cake cool for at least 2 hours before glazing.

Glaze
Juice from 1 lemon (not exact)
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

Mix using a fork until a paste forms and brush on the cooled cake.

Blueberry Coffee Cake
Cake
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream
2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Into a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.

In the bowl of electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Add vanilla, and beat until combined. Add reserved flour mixture and the sour cream, and beat just until well combined. Fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake until golden brown and cake tester comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Crumb topping
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

In a medium bowl, combine cinnamon, salt, sugar, and flour. Cut in the butter using your pastry cutter until well combined. Put aside or refrigerate until use.

Orange-Poppy Scones
From Martha Stewart Everyday Food
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest
1/4 fresh squeezed orange juice
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. With a pastry cutter, work butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. With a fork, stir in 1/2 cup buttermilk, orange zest and juice, egg yolk, and poppy seeds until just combined.

On a lightly floured, surface, turn out dough and knead several times. Form dough into a 7-inch square; cut into 9 squares, then cut each in half diagonally. Transfer dough triangles to two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets. Brush tops with buttermilk; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until scones are pale golden, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on wire racks. Serve with butter and jam.

Banana Bread

1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 over-ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, well beaten
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat sugar and butter together in a mixer. Add mashed bananas and eggs one at a time. Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg together and whisk until well blended. Add to butter mixture and beat in mixture just until combined. Bake in a greased and floured loaf pan for 45-50 minutes.


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Happy Mother's Day!

Happy mother's day to all the moms out there. My mom gets a lot of baking gifts, as you might have guessed, and today was no exception. I made some lemon scones which were spread with homemade (not by me) blackberry jam. I also put together a fruit salad of mango, blackberry, and bananas, and a split-shot latte. If you are a mom, have a nice, relaxing day and if you have a mom in your life, be extra nice.



I have an obsession with packaging and so if I have any excuse to wrap gifts, I go to town. The wrapping in this picture is just done with some purple tissue paper, brown kraft paper, a kraft takeout box, and some striped bands that I made really quickly. I also made a little square card for my mom.


Also, this last Thursday, was the Seattle THAW 2010. It's a charity event that benefits the hdsa (huntington's disease society of america). If you don't know much about the disease or organization, check it out because it's a really great cause. I was sponsor of the event and provided 600 mini cupcakes, the flavors being bailey, lemon blackberry, and spiced carrot cake. I will create a post all about the event, so that is coming soon.

Anyways, happy mother's day!
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Cupcake Camp Part II

Woah. Cupcake camp was crazy. I've never seen so many cupcake-crazed people in my life. Overall, it was a fun event that benefited a good cause. I think everyone who brought cupcakes deserves a pat on the back. Or at least a nice, firm handshake. New cupcakes were supposed to be brought out every 15 minutes, but things didn't go as planned. Hundreds of people showed up for this thing. Which is great because that means the Hope Heart Institute made over $5000! Bravo, cupcake-eaters.


After about two hours, the quantity of cupcakes is visually represented by the image below (chocolate cupcake with salted caramel frosting by cupcake royale, the same flavor I brought!):



mostly because people took this amount of cupcakes:



I'm not going to lie, it was pretty frightening. There was a line out the building, around the block. I honestly thought maybe 300 people would show up to this thing over the course of the whole day. Boy was I wrong.



The next couple pictures are of the cupcakes I brought, carrot with spiced cream cheese frosting and chocolate salted caramel. I had to be sneaky taking pictures because I didn't want to get yelled at or be accused of trying to cut in line to steal the cupcakes. Or seem like a stalker for randomly taking pictures of people. The pictures aren't really in focus at all because I had to be so sneaky, but you can see them on people's plates or in the cute pink boxes I brought them in.







In terms of attendance, cupcake camp seattle was a huge success. the event planners (bella cupcake couture) tried to remind people to only take 5-8 cupcakes, but people simply didn't listen. no one could have anticipated how many people would come and the hosts did the best that they could.



This picture is kind of random. I just thought it was cool that someone made a little milk sculpture.



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Cupcake Camp Part I

As some of you may have heard, Seattle is having its first ever Cupcake Camp. It isn't the kind of camp where little kids make lanyards. It's the kind of camp like boot camp: it is intense. But the intensity comes from the amount of cupcakes! I am proud to say that I am a sponsor of Cupcake Camp Seattle. I will be at the event with my cupcakes, so those of you who live in Seattle should come by and say hello (and eat tons of cupcakes, of course). Several dessert experts will be there: Trophy Cupcakes, Cakespy, Cupcake Royale, and the whole camp is sponsored by Bella Cupcake Couture

I will be making Carrot Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese and Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes (all minis). Both of these recipes are in my recipe index, so if you come by and try them, and like them, you can make either recipe at home.

The event is on April 10th from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM at the 415 Westlake building (415 Westlake Ave N) in South Lake Union. The event is free, but a $10 donation is suggested, but once you've donated, go crazy on the cupcakes. The event benefits the Hope Heart Institute.

This fun event is for a great cause, and I really hope to see some of you there.

Click the button below to go to the Seattle Cupcake Camp website.


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Peanut Butter Sandwiches

As you may have noticed, Girl Scout Cookie season has arrived. For most people, that is great news. For me, not so much. I find them pretty gross and artificial-tasting. The only thing I think Girl Scout cookies are good for is reinvention. I think the cookies sometimes have good flavor combinations and can be used in other desserts. This idea got me thinking about taking other commercial baked goods with bad quality ingredients and remaking them using good recipes and ingredients. I would be lying if I said I didn't like Nutter Butters. They're good. But they could taste so much better. The filling in a Nutter Butter tastes kind of like an Oreo's: bleck. Using natural peanut butter that has only two ingredients (peanuts and salt) makes for a healthier and tastier filling.




I want to apologize for how few posts I've been doing. Believe me, I would do more if I could. I expect the next several weeks (months) to be equally as busy, so there won't be an abundance of posting in the near future. I will do posts whenever I can.

Peanut Butter Shortbread

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 300 F. Beat butter and peanut butter together until thoroughly combined. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy and smooth. Add vanilla extract and salt, then flour. Beat until a dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill overnight.

Once chilled, roll on a floured surface until the dough is 1/4 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut out shapes and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 16-18 minutes, until the cookies are firm to the touch. Let cool for 2 hours before filling.

Peanut Butter Filling
1.5 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup cream peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine butter and peanut butter well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large circular tip, about 1/2 inch in diameter. Sandwich two cookies together, with filling in between.

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