PW’s final day found us making Pineapple Upside Down cake, which nearly did us in. When we were finishing the cake, we had to flip it over onto a plate, and nearly didn’t make it. We found ourselves laughing, saying, “Is this really going to be the recipe that does us in? Pineapple Upside Down cake.”

First you mix up all the ingredients and mix well.

Then, you take some butter (are you surprised) and some brown sugar and you let the sugar dissolve.

Don’t worry if you burn the brown sugar because the PW tells you not to stir because you don’t. You might have to start over. We did. That’s why we were concerned about the Pineapple Upside Down Cake doing us in.

Then you add the pineapples and the maraschino cherries, which I learned how to spell only this week when I was searching for them in the grocery store. I looked in five places: the baking aisle, the canned fruit section, the olive and pickle section (I’m not sure, it made sense in my head), then in the produce section per a woman’s suggestion, and finally the alcohol section, where I found martini olives…but no cherries! Finally, I asked a produce man, who helped me find the cherries, in the ICE CREAM end cap. I am not the smartest…

A close up shot. We started with one cherry per pineapple ring, but then Corelyn wanted to be a little more festive…

So we added another to each ring.

Then you add the batter to the pan…

Make sure to get it all…yum yum yum!

All done!

Delicious. This was moist, and tasted a smidge like pineapple, in the most delicious way possible.

Two of our recipes that we had left were the ever-elusive Marmalade Muffins. Once in the grocery store, I remembered that this recipe was on our list, and purchased the only non-high fructose corn syrup orange marmalade in the store which cost me five bucks. Upon arriving home, I read the recipe: it was not called Marmalade Muffins because they contained marmalade, oh no. They in fact contained oranges. Now, being that we have an orange tree in our front yard, I refused to buy oranges, was waiting it out for the tree to get ripe. Which they now are. It didn’t matter though, because Corelyn was gifted oranges and so in the end we used hers.

Zest two oranges. Assess the evidence of murder by zesting that is covering your stove top.

Now, our friend MAC can’t have gluten, and also can’t breathe it in (did you know that breathing in things is a form of digestion? Take that! Gross.)

Anyways, as you can see there is quite the cloud of flour here, and since we had invited her to our holiday party, we thought it prudent to make sure we did not poison her while she was over. So we set up shop on my back porch, TV-table, extension cord to the mixer, and closed the door, making it snow in the back courtyard.

Somewhere to hang out make-shift sifter!

Pour in some delicious buttermilk. We sprung for some real buttermilk this time.

Mmmm, buttermilk.

Add your zest, and smile because you know these muffins are going to be killer.

Mix it all up, but not too much, because you don’t want the muffins to be tough, as PW says.

We let the muffin mixture chill for a while, because PW says they are better served warm (which was true.) So when we were close to guests arriving, we pulled out the dough.

Fill your muffin tins. We don’t have a mini muffin tin, as PW calls for, so we used a regular sized muffin tin.

Stick ’em in the oven, and then when they come out, cover them in orange juice and brown sugar glaze. Delicious.

Let them soak for a few minutes, then pop ’em out. Serve. Prepare for everyone to love you forever.

These disappeared quickly, and they were the only recipe that made how much it said it’d make. 12 muffins. But we DID half the glaze, since we are learning that we end up having left over frosting/glaze/etc.

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After we finished with the muffin mix, we moved on while it chilled to the sugar cookies.

Look at that flour-cloud. Just look! This is why you mix flour outside if you have a friend coming over that can’t eat flour…

Time to head inside and let the sugar cookie dough chill for about an hour, before we could make them.

This is how much dough was left after we made the 18 cookies that PW said the recipe would make.

Look at this cup. Corelyn dipped it in butter, then in sugar…and in sugar, again, for each cookie. All 30 of them, which is what the recipe ended up making.

Delicious. These cookies look so easy, and they are!

Delicious. These cookies were good too, and although we have a few left they were certainly a big hit!

On our final Pioneer Woman challenge day we tackled the creme brulee recipe. In some ways, it was an utter failure. Our custard didn’t set quite right, and that’s sort of the whole point when it comes to creme brulee. And there’s a long list of possible culprits. The 80 degree weather, the unreliable oven temperature, our fault for not serving it right away after browning the sugar topping or for letting it sit out in the hot kitchen for 30 minutes while we perfected our kitchen torch skills. It was probably a combination of all these factors that left us with a consistency that was a little less like custard and a little more like thin, runny pudding.

In other ways, this recipe was a glorious success. Our hearts were light as we worked on our last Pioneer Woman day, and we approached this recipe relaxed and carefree. We exchanged office gossip while we whisked the eggs, which did turn the appropriate shade of pale yellow over time. We discovered a secret mixing bowl in the back of the cupboard that we didn’t know existed! We remembered to temper the egg mixture, even though Jennie hates having to temper things. We had occasion to purchase both ramekins AND a kitchen torch–something we’ve coveted for a long time. And we got to perfect our sugar browning techniques! Not to mention, the end result was delicious, no matter the consistency, and our lovely friends ate it without complaint!

First separate out ten egg yolks.

Survey the damage in the kitchen sink.

Heat the cream and vanilla.

Add sugar to the eggs.

Whisk the egg and sugar mixture constantly for 3 or 4 minutes.

We took turns to give our arms a break.

Next step is to temper the egg mixture by adding  a small amount of the hot cream to the eggs and mixing, before slowly introducing the rest of the cream and whisking constantly. There are no pictures of this process because it was a team effort. Here I am whisking the complete mixture.

Then it’s time to pour into the ramekins!

Ooh.

Ahh.

As usual, the pioneer woman’s recipe called for 6 ramekins, but we had enough leftover to fill four glass bowls, which acted as our ramekin substitute.

Into the oven, and when they set, we let them chill for about 3 hours. (2 hour minimum)

Our first try with the kitchen torch was a bit over-zealous and we over-caramelized just a bit.

But then we got the hang of it!

We took some free time we had while our baking goods are chilling to count up a few key ingredients over the last year…and the results are hilarious, and yet disturbing as well…we’ve used:

53 cups of flour

9.25 pounds of butter

77 eggs

60 slices of bacon

We couldn’t bring ourselves to count some things (i.e. sugar, cheese…) but we figured this was an accurate representation of things we used in excess…

…off to butter and sugar some cookies…

Hello friends! Jennie and I got started cooking about an hour ago. We’ve got four more recipes to make today and then we’ll be done. Not to mention we’re hosting a Christmas party at Jennie’s house tonight, and we need to be washed, clean, pretty and done photographing all of our food by the time the guests arrive around 7:00. At the moment, I’m taking advantage of a brief interlude in the cooking schedule while Jennie runs out to purchase some forgotten, but necessary, powdered sugar. Just another day in the life, really…

Today will be an interesting experiment because we’re cooking a lot of flour-based sweets for tonight’s party but we’re also trying to keep the small apartment friendly for gluten-free needs. Since flour can hang around in the air for several hours, and since mixing together dry ingredients tends to create huge tufts of what can only be called “flour vapor,” we’ve decided to take an extra precaution today and do all our mixing outside on the porch.

The porch is about 3′ x 4′, just big enough to fit both of us, the camera, a small table with mixing bowls, a hand mixer and extension cord, and one full cup of coffee. On a related note, it’s about 80 degrees in L.A. today, just because our city likes to surprise us like that. So it’s an adventure to be sure.

Get ready for some photos of me mixing sugar cooking dough in my spaghetti strap tank top and sunglasses.

Jennie just got home from the grocery store, so it’s back to cooking for me. Ciao!