Joy Wilson's Blog, page 78

Let It Be Sunday, 195!

Hello dear friend!

This week’s Sunday post comes to you from Mexico City where I’ve consumed my weight in tacos, tequila, city beauty, and wedding love.  I’m here for Ellen (our favorite apron lady) and Casey’s wedding and WOW, naturally it’s epic. 

This week has been a jumble of deadlines and travel prep and consciously putting aside BUT WHAT DO I WEAR anxieties because IT DOESN’T MATTER is the actual answer almost always. 

I hope this week finds you feeling strong and happy and if not… I hope this Sunday is your moment to recharge and locate those feelings. 

Here is the offering this week: 

•  Major American Problem: Perpetrators of hate crimes see themselves as saviors.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 195! at Joy the Baker.

Caramel Apple Cheesecake with Oster®

It’s the best time of the year! Are you ready for it!?  Time to cozy up in the kitchen, relish in the heat from our pre-heating oven, cream fats and sugars, peel apples, stir sugar into caramel, and have the good sense to layer it all together! We’re making the most decadent cheesecake today!  You’ve got to see this. 

This post is brought to us by Oster® Hand Mixer with Heatsoft Technology.  Oster makes a really great hand mixer that blows a gentle warm air as it mixes.

Continue reading Caramel Apple Cheesecake with Oster® at Joy the Baker.

Vegetarian Pumpkin Pot Pie

Hi there!  I’m just here to change your plans.  

I figured your dinner plans consisted of your kiddo’s Halloween candy, or the Halloween candy that’s leftover from tricker-or-treaters, or the Halloween candy that you bought on sale at the drug store this morning (HI THAT’S ME!), but I’m here to suggest an alternative.  It’s pie.  It’s savory.  It’s truly full of vegetables but balanced with enough butter to feel, well… complete.  And that Halloween candy will be there when dinner is done.  And this pie makes for some truly great leftovers.  And you should need no more convincing.  

It’s seasonal and savory pie for dinner, y’all!  Look at us go (straight to the candy bucket for a snack before pie dinner).  

Here’s what you’ll need – it’s dinner pie! 

•  a small pumpkin.  Probably not the pumpkin you carved for Halloween but something similar and small.  You can also use a butternut or acorn or really whatever kind of squash feels festive to you.  It’s Decorative Gourd Season – don’t make me tell you again.  

•  onions and garlic – where every good savory should pie should start.  

• fresh herbs – I used thyme and oregano because it’s in my backyard growing like a weed.  

• green vegetables – I used green beans, green peas, and a few handfuls of kale. 

•  spices like cumin and chili powder and whatever else feels warm and wonderful. 

•  flour for thickening.

Continue reading Vegetarian Pumpkin Pot Pie at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 194!

Hello dear friends!

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about time and attention and just how precious those things are.  I try to make the most of every day in work and tasks, sure… but the rest of my attention is so valuable and I’m always reevaluating where that resource goes.  This week my attention went into painting the back of my front door yellow.  Well… 45 minutes of my attention (and don’t worry – this photo is just a single coat and it looks much better now).  The door painting inspired me to make a wreath for the back of the door so my attention went into an hour long trip to the craft store and then down a rabbit hole of rearranging my office and bedroom.  It’s felt good (like a luxury, really) to put energy and attention into my space.  Really, I’m just prepping for a Christmas tree.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 194! at Joy the Baker.

9 Gift Giving Crafts To Start This Fall

Hello dear friends! 

It would be entirely reasonable for you to be thinking about Halloween, costumes, candy… the whole deal… but I’ve got my eyes on the prize (prize = homemade holiday gifts).  I’m also not ashamed (ok, just lightly embarrassed) to admit that I’ve already got my Christmas decorations down from the attic (the miracle being that I’m a grown single woman with both an attic AND Christmas decorations).  

I love gift giving during the holidays mostly because I like to make elaborate homemade gifts for people and stare at them intently while they open their present in front of me.  If you’re keeping track, my love language is ‘words of affirmation’ so… that’s why I stare so intently, to prepare my heart and mind.  

The problem with homemade gift giving is that it takes time and planning and it’s not something that you can decide on Black Friday.  Nope.  Now is the time… and technically, we’re already a little late… so let’s jump on this.  

Here are a few crafty gift ideas for inspiration, to start gathering supplies, to get started on these holiday times… maybe while watching that scary haunted house show on Netflix – I’m not here to miss a holiday, but I am here to prepare.  

•  Clay and paper and wildflowers!

Continue reading 9 Gift Giving Crafts To Start This Fall at Joy the Baker.

Zucchini Upside-Down Cake

I can feel bath season coming on.  I can expect for my shower curtain to be untucked from my bathtub, I can expect to make a new batch of mustard bath soak every week, I can expect to likely drop my phone into the water before bath season is done.  

Bath season is also vegetable season though every season is technically vegetable season.  It’s my desire for everything roasted and toasted that led me to this place, with both mustard bath ingredients and zucchini cake ingredients on my kitchen counter. 

All of this to say that… I put vegetables on our cake (not mustard – not yet).

Continue reading Zucchini Upside-Down Cake at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 193!

Hello dear friends!  

Welcome to another fine day. Can we talk about astrology for a two to five sentences?  Do the words ‘Venus in retrograde” mean anything to you?  Are you trying to steady yourself?  Here’s what this years Venus in retorgrade means for your sign.  Just blaze on through – we’ve got this. 

This week I tasked my heart out, recipe tested a lot of apple and pumpkin things, woke up early, walked the dog, only ate one bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos… it’s been solid.  

I taught my first real yoga class this week and of course, brought the class these doughnuts as a treat.  Balance?  All of my classes should be about balance, ending with meditation and a sweet treat.  

I hope this week finds you happy and well.  Truckin’ along.  

Here is the offering this week.  Take only what you need:  

•  Must read and I’m ready to have a book club meeting about this:  Powerful Women Talk About Power.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 193! at Joy the Baker.

Cacio e Pepe Beignets

I know I’m not supposed to mess with a good thing… and one of the simpliciest definitions of a ‘good thing’ is fried dough with mountains of powdered sugar.  So, it takes some true nerve, true gall, true grit to stand before you with an alteration to the already perfect powdered sugar covered beignet.  

I know better… but I also know cheese… which, piled high enough and paired with black pepper, actually makes a tremendous compliment to fried dough. 

With that in mind, and with a generous amount of audacity, I bring you SAVORY BEIGNETS with grated parmesan cheese instead of powdered sugar, and enough black pepper and scallions to make these feel extra special.  

Here’s what you’ll need for these savory beignets.  

•  Flour and yeast.  

•  Salt is important, as is a good pinch of sugar to balance the savory elements.  

•  Browned butter – because if we’re going to use butter, why not brown it to nutty delicious? 

•  Beaten egg and whole milk to add much welcome richness to the dough. 

•  Mountains of grated Parmesan cheese (really, a lot is key) and fresh cracked black pepper.  

•  I think it’s also fun to add chopped green onions.  

I used an electric stand mixer to bring this dough together.  I think a mixer is the best way to go though you can make this dough by hand if you need.  Mixing by hand can sometimes mean that you add more flour to keep the dough from being too sticky so just keep an eye on your flour additions if mixing by hand.  

We’ll bring the yeast to life with a bit of warm water and a pinch of salt. 

Let the yeast mixture fluff and froth – that’s the yeast eating up the sugar and releasing gas.  This momentum will create that fluff in our beignets so if the yeast mixture doesn’t come to life try again with another batch of yeast and warm water before going forward with the recipe. 

While the yeast comes to life, combine the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Flour, a bit of sugar, salt, and a half teaspoon of baking powder for good measure. 

Green onions, too!  We’ll give the batter a savory kick with both green onions and a good dose of fresh cracked black pepper. 

(If you find yourself using pre-ground fine black pepper, use less that you would this coarse stuff.) 

We’ll add the wet ingredients in layers.  

Beaten egg plus, melted and browned butter, plus whole milk.  

All of these fats will help create a rich and pliable dough.  

Before the dough goes onto the stand mixer with the dough hook we’ll add a small handful of grated cheese and use a spatula to roughly mix the dough into a moist shag.  

Mix on low speed for several minutes, adding a bit more flour if ya need.

Continue reading Cacio e Pepe Beignets at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 192!

 

Hello dear friends!  

Welcome to this fine day – I hope you’re well!   

This week I had a sweet visit from my friend Ashley Rodriguez from Not Without Salt.  She came to New Orleans to promote her latest book Let’s Stay In, and really just cook a bunch of food at The Bakehouse.  Sometimes we get to make our own dreams come true, and this week was one of those weeks.  Ashley has the most effortless way of cooking and feeding people that being in the kitchen with her feels like gliding on air.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 192! at Joy the Baker.

Golden Milk Cake

We’re changing the tone of things in the kitchen.  Can you feel it?  It feels like we need a different kind of nourishment.  Warming and routine. Roasted and rooted. 

I find myself gravitating towards Golden Milk every autumn and winter.  It’s the drink I stir together when I’ve dimmed the lights in my kitchen to just one – that thing I do to signal to my body that we get to rest soon.  Golden Milk has a lullaby quality while also feeling almost as indulgent as ice cream.  It’s settling.

Continue reading Golden Milk Cake at Joy the Baker.