Bake it til you make it

The Raphael Miranda Peanut Butter Mousse Pie , Parts One ( I ) and Two ( II )

****NOTE: Jon-Marc mentions many times that Raphael Miranda will be on the morning "Today in New York" the 24th-26th of June. This is wrong. Raphael will be on Monday the 22nd through Wednesday the24th of June, 2009. We apologize for the confusion****

 Here, my fellow bakers, is a two part video of a pie I made in honor of Raphael Miranda, my bff and  a meteorologist on WNBC in New York. The recipe, as well as the second video is after the jump. The original name of this pie was the Black-Bottom Peanut Butter Mousse Pie, found in the August issue of Bon Appétit, my favorite magazine. In the two videos, you will see why I renamed it.

(Note: If you want to watch it in high  quality just click the HQ button below the screen after you press play. If you want to see a larger screen, just click on the screen after you press play of the video and it will take you to YouTube, where you can click HQ to watch me in high quality. The vids seem to be taking a few moments  but be patient and they eventually will load)

(Click below for part two)

New Video this weekend!

Be on the lookout! The Naked Baker, Jon-Marc McDonald is making a black bottom peanut butter mousse pie from, of course, his favorite magazine Bon Appetit.

Look who's a featured show on iFood.tv. That's right, it's me

See that badge to the left that says I am a featured show on ifood.tv . Yeah, I'm cool like that

Shout out to Allie Demet and The Badger Herald

Allie Demet of The Badger Herald wrote an article about Sarah Bernhardt cookies, cookies I wrote a post about a few months ago. Anyway, Allie mentioned my post in her article and her compliments were flattering to say the least. Made my day

Oh, by the way, I will be back to Bake It soon. Just be patient!

Ps. You can find me on face book by clicking here. Friend me if you'd like

Devil's Food Layer Cake with Peppermint Frosting

The Naked Baker, Jon-Marc McDonald, makes the Devil's Food Layer Cake with Peppermint Frosting from the December issue of Bon Appetit Magazine. This is a two part video. The second part, as well as the recipe, can be found after the jump. NOTE: If you would like to watch the videos in "high-quality, watch them on their respective YouTube pages and click "watch in high-quality" below the screen on the right side. Part 1 here. Part 2 here.

Part 1:

Revisiting the 7-up cake

It has been a busy time around the BITYMI loft. Jon-Marc was a marshal in the protest march against California's Proposition 8 in New York City on November 12, he started a new job and his political blog, Screaming From the Rooftop has been gaining a wider and wider audience over the past few months. Due to all of this, Jon-Marc asked that we post something from the archives until he can get back in the kitchen to make a new creation for BITYMI.

We decided the 7-up Cake post was as good as any. So enjoy! The video is below and the recipe for the cake can be found here (the original August 18th post):

Jon-Marc wants everyone to know that he will be back before you can say "Christmas". Ok, actually he said he will be back before Christmas.

Later Bakers!

Fleur de Sel and Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly Sandwich

This post is cross-posted at my political blog, Screaming from the Rooftop

I discovered something today that just may change my life forever. A few weeks ago I went and bought some Fleur de Sel for a cake. You may remember, the cake turned out disastrous.

Well, I kept trying to figure out what to do with the Fleur de Sel since I knew I would never make the cake again. I could not throw it away since I practically had to take out a loan to buy it in the first place.

Well, I have found a few uses that I like quite a bit. I enjoy it on fries and steak and it really goes good on ice-cream.  But how did it change my life?

Let me tell you!

First, do not go out and buy it just for what I am about to tell you. Actually, who the hell am I kidding? Go now and buy it!

Unless, of course, you have some sitting around. And if you do, you’re one rich mofo and I want to be your friend.

But moving on.

Fleur de Sel changes the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich FOREVER. This is what I do:

1.    Prepare your PB&J as you normally would, using your favorite jelly or jam and peanut butter (Jif for those in the know). I prefer my bread toasted.
2.     LIGHTLY (and I do not use that word lightly) sprinkle the peanut butter side of the sandwich with the Fleur de Sel. I mean lightly, people!
6.    Put the two pieces of bread together.
7.    Cut your sandwich in two
8.    Eat and enter a new dimension reserved for those lucky enough to try this creation.

Now to all the chefs and food pop culturati, you better give me credit when you start putting this on your menu! I’m not joking. I want the credit, Toque-ers! I don’t want to be watching The Today Show or Rachael Ray about how the latest trend is putting a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich on the menu. And then see how Jean-Georges is taking all the credit. It’s mine!

I know how all you celebrity-chefs operate. One person puts it on their menu and everyone follows suit. It happened with sliders and The Little Owl. After sliders showed up on the menu at The Little Owl, everyone had sliders on their menus.

It happened with the mac-and-cheese revolution of 2001. Every snotty restaurant across the land had mac-and-cheese on their menus for a while.

All I’m sayin’ is that if you put a fleur-de-sel PB&J on your menu, you give me credit.

Thank you.

PS. A word to the wise. Don’t go trying this with Kosher salt or table-salt. It won’t work. It might work with other sea-salts but I have not tried.

Why I'm gonna marry Dove Ice Cream and might vote for McCain / Palin

NOTE: This post is cross posted at my political blog, Screaming from the Rooftop

The past couple of weeks I have not paid any attention to this site. I have not posted, put up recipes or put up any videos. Instead I have been consumed with my husband’s health as well as some other things. And what time I have left is devoted to the upcoming election.

However, not having time to bake does not mean my sweet tooth has gone away. In order to satisfy the craving, the husband and I have been eating a lot of different ice cream these past few weeks. We have our standard go-to brands that we love such as Ben & Jerry’s and Breyers and if something is on sale we will give it a shot.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Dove was on sale for 2 for $5. Now, maybe I live under a rock but I was unaware that Dove made ice cream tubs. I knew about, and have tried, their ice cream bars but not the tubs. So I bought two and took them home.

That night the husband and I discovered something that we never knew before. We discovered that heaven was, in fact a place here on earth. We found it in each spoonful after delicious spoonful of Dove Ice Cream.

And to top it all off (literally and figuratively) each pint has a layer of ganache that you break through to get to the creamy, unadulterated goodness. And once you are there you will never, ever think of ice cream the same way again.

Now, I have only tried two flavors because our grocery store does not carry but two. I have tried Unconditional Chocolate and Give In To Mint.  But I assure you that even if I see another flavor on my way to a meeting I will buy it and eat it at the meeting -- consequences be damned!  But they will not take my Dove away from me!

Let me tell you how much I love this ice cream. If, in the debate on Thursday night, Sarah Palin had said “To my fellow Americans, I want you to know in a McCain / Palin administration we will provide government sponsored Dove Ice Cream” I would have pledged money to their campaign that second and committed myself to getting them elected. That’s how much I dig this ice cream. It's not that my devotion to Obama is that weak. It's that my devotion to Dove Ice Cream is that strong!

So if you have not tried a pint I suggest you make it to your grocery store and indulge. Forget your diet for the night (or for the week) and go crazy.

I promise, you’ll never be the same again.

I also promise to be back in a couple of weeks!

Oh Happy Day

Brownie-Chunk Cookies

These cookies are from The Sweet Pea Bakery & Catering via the Bon Appetit September issue. They are out-of-this-world good! The recipe is after the jump: