Letter to a Stranger

Dear Old Man,

You've come into the bakery almost every morning since I started. I hear it's been years. You order a cup of coffee and you sit. For hours.

And you're dying.

Every morning, I see less life in you than the morning before. When I first served you, you were able to mutter shakily, "Small coffee." Now, you can only shake. Luckily, I know.

Livin' the Dream

You guys. Seriously.

It's happened.

About a year and a half ago, I came home from work exhausted, weary, and on the verge of a complete meltdown. Every. Night. I told The Hubs, "All I want to do is frost cupcakes and write."

I wanted a life in which I made people, and myself, happy. I wanted something pure, something nourishing, something sweet, something filled with love. I wanted to actually have the time to do the things I loved. I wanted to love what I do. I wanted people to feel loved by what I do. I wanted to feed people. And write about it. Operation Frost Cupcakes became the dream.

Over time Operation Frost Cupcakes became our code for, "When Andrea finally gets to work in a bakery, write, move to a kick-ass part of town, and completely love her life." The Hubs and I talked about it all the time. I dreamed about it constantly. I told anyone that would listen that someday, someday. I put it out into the universe. It got me through the days. I wanted that new adventure so bad I could taste it.

It's been a tough journey. Really tough. Twists and turns and doubts and so many unexpected curve-balls made me come thisclose to giving up the dream. Almost daily I seriously questioned just what the hell I thought I was doing. Each hurdle made the dream seem further and further away.

But then it started getting closer. The Hubs, my friends, my family, YOU held my hand, dragged me kicking and screaming, and cheered so damn loud as the finish line got closer and closer. I wanted to give up. You all wouldn't let me. So I ran faster, dreamed bigger.

And then it happened. I crossed the finish line.

I'm here. Living the dream.

Working in a bakery. Freelance writing. Loving my new town. Drafting a book. Blogging. Laughing. Dreaming. Loving.

Living.

I love you. Thank you.

Bacon Maple Cupcakes. Shut. Up.

Yes, you read that right. Bacon. Cupcakes. As my good friend, the other Andrea Lynn, would say, "Oh. My. DAMN."

Here's the thing. I love breakfast food. I love BAD breakfast food. Bacon-y breakfast food. And I'm lucky enough to have a group of friends that love it just as much, if not more, than I do. So we made a club. The Breakfast Club. We get together to make artery clogging dinner parties that would make the fellas of Epic Meal Time proud. Damn proud.

Carmageddon decided to throw a sneak preview on the 405 last night, making it impossible for The Hubs and I to get to Redondo Beach for rib grillin' with some of our club. After staring at brake lights for over an hour, we'd only made it to Skirball. Defeated, we turned back around. As we sadly made our way back to the Valley we made plans to head back down tomorrow morning for brunch. Our host sent a challenging text. "Pumpkin waffles."

Pumpkin waffles? I see your pumpkin waffles, DCP, and I raise you BACON CUPCAKES. Get ready for a mouthgasm tomorrow morning. 

Lady B's Cardiac Arrest Cupcakes

9 tablespoons butter (1 stick and some more), room temp

1 tablespoon bacon drippings (left in fridge to solidify. You know, so it's healthy.)

2 eggs

10 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 1/2 cups self rising flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 cup of milk

1 package bacon, cooked & drained

Cook bacon in fry pan. Reserve drippings and place in fridge to solidify. Mince up all the bacon.

Beat butter and bacon fat (yep, I just told you to do that. Try not to think about it too much.) until it's light and creamy. Add brown sugar and maple syrup until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating at medium speed until it's all harmonizing together.

Sift flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. 

Add some of the flour mixture into butter mix, beating until well combined. Add milk and continue blending. Alternate between dry and wet ingredients, ending and starting with the dry stuff.

Taste test and add more syrup, milk or flour if you're so inclined. I tended to add a bit more syrup for some extra sweetness. NOT TOO MUCH though. A little goes a long way.

Fold in the bacon. Taste test again cuz it's just damn good.

Use an ice cream scoop (best way to make evenly portioned cupcakes) to divide batter in to cupcake-lined muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when placed in the center. Rotate your muffin tins at the 15 minute mark to keep them evenly cooked, especially if you've got a wonky uneven oven like mine.

Let cupcakes cool entirely before frosting. While cooling, hey! Make frosting!

Maple Butter Frosting

8 tablespoons butter (yep, a whole other stick of butter)

4 tablespoons maple syrup

2 cups powdered sugar

Combine syrup and butter until well blended. Add powdered sugar a bit at a time, whisking at high speed.

Pipe onto cupcakes. Sprinkle remaining bacon bits on top of frosting. Eat one. Die with a sugary, bacon-y smile on your face.

Mia Pia's Pie Shop

Y'all know how much I love to bake. It's pretty much my favorite thing to do in the whole wide world. Which is why every holiday season, I go completely and absolutely bananas in the kitchen for a solid month straight.  Thanksgiving is always my starting line and I usually go straight to the New Year. First up for Baking Blitz 2010...PIE!

Perfect, pleasing, pleasant PIES! Being this year's designated dessert provider for Turkey Fest at the Nicastro-Nale household, I took my job very seriously. A little too seriously. Two nights. One tortured husband. Six pies. Ten fat and happy family members.

First of all, pie fixin's ain't cheap! I've always been taught that store-bought ANYTHING is ALWAYS more expensive than doing it yourself. Psssshhhhh... Grand total for all the necessary supplies? $92.36. Yowza. If I ever do decide to open my own pie shop, I'm gonna need to charge $50 a pie to break even!

I've made pies in years past but I'd never attempted my own crust. Feeling brave, I went to the first person I thought of that would be sure to get the buttery-goodness just right. Paula Deen. Not since Julia Child have I seen anyone cook with more butter and fat. No wonder her food is delicious. After watching a couple of videos and relishing in her good ol' Southern Comfort, I felt brave.

Brave enough to not only try to make my first crust but to make said crust for a berry pie. I've never made a berry pie. So, to make ensure that I was completely out of my element, I settled on a pie that needed TWO types of berries.

How pretty are these berries? I almost just stopped here and ate the whole bowl of fresh wholesome goodness. Then I remembered that I spent $28 (!!!) on them and I wasn't about to disappoint my Uncle Vinnie, who loves him some berry pie.

Paula Deen steered me sooo right on my crust (flaky, buttery, and perfect!) and I was filled with so much confidence after mastering the perfect dough to ice water ratio that I got fancy on this pie's ass.

Before

Success!!

I was so excited when my berry masterpiece came out of the oven perfectly golden and bubbly, that I actually got teary. The moment The Hubs walked in from a gig, I squealed, "Look at it! Look at it! Isn't it PUUURRRFECT?!?!?"

"Wow, babe! Can I eat it?"

"NO!"

Next up, my old tried and true pecan and pumpkin pies. I mastered both recipes last year and couldn't wait to improve them with my kick-ass new crust. My dear old dad's all-time favorite is pecan pie and he had yet to try mine. I was so excited for him to finally test it out this year!

 The Hubs loves pecan as well and as I baked each one of three of them, he repeated "Can I eat some yet?"

"NO! But doesn't it look delicious?"

"YES!!! Soooo...can I eat some yet?

"THURSDAY!!"



The Hubs isn't a huge fan of pumpkin pie which means each year there's enough leftover for Mom and I to indulge in our pie for breakfast tradition. This year was no exception. I made so much pumpkin pie filling, there was enough extra to fill one of Grandma's vintage baking dishes. I'll be serving that over ice cream tonight. Nom!


Even though he's not a pumpkin eater, when these bad boys came out of the oven The Hubs said, "That actually looks good. Can I eat some?"

"NO!!!!!!!"

Thursday afternoon rolled around and The Hubs and I walked in my parents' house carrying a giant box of pies. There was much oohing, aahing, and drooling over my creations and I wanted to dance on the roof I was so excited. I love turkey dinner, but I COULD. NOT. WAIT. for them all to finish and move on to PIE!

I'm please to report that the pecan pie got a Poppy Grade A Seal of Approval. Mom proclaimed that I should open "Mia Pia Pie's Shop." And After Uncle Jim ate all three, he moaned, "I'm gonna be sick."

When you can make Uncle Jim sick, you've kicked some serious kitchen ass.

There may not have been yams this year. But there was pie. And The Hubs finally got some.

Mangia!