Sally McKenney's Blog, page 153

Chocolate Peanut Butter Macarons.

The best flavor combination on earth.

Hay hay haaaay! A flavored French macaron cookie recipe today! Hoping my excitement is contagious because (1) chocolate and (2) peanut butter. Ooooh PS there’s a new summer-y sweet post up in my photography section today!

Looking through my peanut butter archives, I notice that I have only shared 2 recipes this year with peanut butter. TWO. Umm, it’s August.

Disgraceful. Appalling. Shameful. Let’s fix it right away.

It’s safe to say that these chocolate macarons were gobbled up in 1/2 the time it took to make them. In my defense, I shared them with the fam after Kevin’s birthday dinner last weekend. But I can easily house a half dozen of these in the blink of an eye if challenged.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Step-by-Step Guide to French Macarons.

Carefully explained and photographed tutorial for delicate French macaron cookies!

It’s been a helluva long time coming.

Light, airy, meringue-like, beautiful French macarons have been on my baking bucket list for 2 years. I’ve been studying, testing, and driving myself crazy in the kitchen for months trying to get these things right. I’ve never been more determined.

And with perseverance comes success!

And I’m here to teach you exactly how to make them at home. Consider this post your French Macarons: Decoded class.

French macarons are delicate cookies with a crunchy exterior and weightless interior. They have a nougat-like, chewy texture in your mouth and can be filled with anything from frosting and caramel to curd and ganache.

If there’s one thing to know before beginning French macarons at home, it’s this: these cookies are not simple. Impossible? Absolutely not. Requiring BOTH patience and practice? Yes.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Ultimate Skillet Brownie.

Here’s a simple skillet dessert giving you the ultimate brownie experience. 

We celebrated Kevin’s birthday over the weekend and I’ve never been more convinced that birthdays are a much bigger ordeal to girls than guys. I believe I had a two week celebration for my birthday (with a specific birthday dress) when all Kevin wanted to do was relax, golf, and eat BBQ ribs.

“But… but… it’s your birthday!!”

I did, however, surprise him with an extra special treat. The man loves chocolate more than anyone I know (he’s the brains behind this operation), so after all the relaxing, golfing, and BBQ rib eating– he had a BIRTHDAY SKILLET BROWNIE.

Exclamation points!

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Have you tried my skillet chocolate chip cookie yet? Because this is identical, only in double chocolate brownie form. A rich, dense, fudgy brownie made completely from scratch and baked in a skillet. I love making brownies in skillets for many reasons including but not limited to:

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Autographed Sweetapolita Bakebook + Sprinkles Giveaway (3 winners)!

(via Sweetapolita Etsy)

Sprinkles, glorious sprinkles!

There is no shortage of life’s happiest ingredient on my blog this weekend.

Also. There is no shortage of sprinkles in my pantry. My pantry is a zoo. If you saw the massive amount of baking ingredients and small amount of real life snack food, you’d be in shock. #myweirdlife

I’m getting off topic!

Do you know Sweetapolita? More specifically, Rosie of Sweetapolita? She’s the bestselling author of The Sweetapolita Bakebook, a blogger, my baking idol, my friend. I love her! And her epic gallery of layer cakes. And this DROP DEAD GORGEOUS vanilla birthday cake.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Glazed Lemon Blueberry Scones.

My go-to scone recipe filled with blueberries and topped with sweet and tangy lemon glaze.

Welcome back to Sally’s overdose on scones.

It’s only been about a year and half since my love affair began. Before that, scones were nothing more than a dry crumbly triangle. I mean sure, scones are meant to be dipped into (insert hot beverage of choice here) but a pastry reminding me of cardboard never quite did it for me. Meh.

How appetizing has my writing been so far. Uhhh let me switch gears.

What I’m trying to say is that not all scones are created the same. Gone are the days I pretend to be proper by eating a sandpaper-y scone. Welcome: tender, flaky, crumbly-in-a-really-good-way, buttery, flavorful pastries filled to the brim with chocolate, strawberries, and cinnamon chips. Consider me OB-sessed.

(Love this blue plate for food photography– it’s on sale!)

My latest scone adventure is of the lemon blueberry variety. Summer in a scone! They’re a little upgrade from my favorite blueberry version. I’ve made these lemon blueberry scones like they’re going out of style, beginning in early June when I shared the recipe on People. The reason I make them so much? They’re easy. Seriously! Scones are so simple and I wouldn’t have known that before I started making them.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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July in Photos.

Really, summer? August already?

Well. This can only mean one thing. Sally’s Candy Addiction is coming out next month! I had a conference call yesterday regarding the book tour and I’ll share the dates/locations with you as soon as some final details are put into place. You can imagine how much planning goes into this massive tour!

Guess what! The Look Inside feature is now available for Sally’s Candy Addiction on Amazon. Get a lengthy sneak peek today! Including the Table of Contents. I’ve been keeping this Table of Contents a secret for over a year now!

Back to July. This month was full of travel. Most of it was for work, though it’s all fun when cookies and cookbooks are involved. First, I went to Washington to visit the world famous Stemilt and their family owned orchards. We stopped in Seattle first to see some friends. See (A LOT) more Seattle pics in my photography feed today!

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Easy Healthy Dinner: Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken.

Simply pour this homemade teriyaki sauce over chicken and bake!

Hey hey hey! Another Monday morning to relish.

Sarcasm, of course. I’m back from an adventurous vacation in the Pacific Northwest. Mondays after vacation. I’ll have a tall coffee with a side of post vacay blues.

I’ll tell you more about the trip this week in sally’s photography, so stay tuned for that!

PS: if you want easy access to my photography, go to the tab at the top of this page. See? You can easily switch between this food/baking feed and the photography feed.

Before leaving for vacation, I made today’s recipe for dinner one night. Something on the healthier side, which is what dinner usually looks like around here. Lean meats, veggies, tasty sauces. Like so. And it’s been so exciting sharing everyday dinner recipes with you! The feedback I’ve been getting about sprinkling (ha!) healthier meals into my posts has been inspiring. So, stay tuned for a few more healthy meals this month.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Party Angel Food Cake.

Rainbow sprinkles, crunchy hazelnuts, and smooth chocolate ganache makes this a PARTY angel food cake.

SBA followers: I’ve got a new post up in my photography section today. ♥

Prepare your eyes! Your tastebuds! Your stomach!

I’ve been working on perfecting angel food cake for the past few months and to finally reveal my beloved recipe, I obviously had to add some flair.

Sally sprinkle style.

Do you like angel food cake? I personally love it with strawberries and whipped cream. No more, no less. That’s how my mom always made it. When my friends at Diamond of California asked me to prepare a fun sprinkle-loaded cake, I combined my (1) determination to perfect angel food cake (2) monstrous craving for chocolate and (3) obsession with all things rainbow. PS: these sprinkles are from Sweetapolita!

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Baking Basics: Measuring is EVERYTHING.

Fellow bakers! Welcome back to my Baking Basics series. Cue little dance in the kitchen holding a whisk.

Ooooh before I forget (which, let’s face it, always happens)… I shared another post in my photography section yesterday!

Today we’re focusing on something that may seem trivial to you, but it is easily the most important step in every recipe you bake. Measuring ingredients properly is imperative. The difference between a recipe success and a recipe failure could lie within 1 mis-measured tablespoon of flour or sugar. I’m being serious!

Baking is not very forgiving. It is a science. (Nerds unite.) Estimating the measurements of an ingredient in a recipe spells disaster. While you can easily get away with a handful of this or that when you’re cooking dinner, even the slightest miscalculation could turn your soft-baked chocolate chip cookies into rocks. Understanding the correct measuring technique for a particular ingredient will guarantee better baking results. Soft cookies, fluffy cakes, flaky crust!

In terms of measuring your ingredients, it pays off to be a perfectionist. 

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Simple Cherry Pastry Pies.

Frozen puff pastry makes these handheld cherry pies a piece of cake pie to prepare.

GUESS WHAT. I made little handheld pies! And I have to say/type that these simple cherry pastry pies are my favorite dessert of the summer. That says a lot considering s’mores tartlets.

But before we get to this pastry pie razzmatazz, how was your weekend? What did you do? My weekend was jam-packed showering the bride-to-be. Let’s see, a bunch of us went out to Osteria for dinner Saturday night (the grilled halibut is sooo on point), then brunched at Parc in Rittenhouse Square before heading to the bridal shower.

Suddenly my Monday morning back to work feels all sorts of boring.

So about the pastry pies. They’re hand pies! And also sort of like toaster strudels, which is enough reason to make a mad dash to the kitchen like, right now. But what makes them even better than store-bought toaster strudels is that the filling is made from actual real fruit. Summer sweet cherries to be exact.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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