Makin' Moves & Salted Caramel Brownies

Why yes, fellow food-lovers, I am in fact making several things lately. Moves. That's one of them - lots and lots of moves. Salted caramel brownies is among the more delicious of what I've been making. But both will be discussed today as promised.

All jokes aside, I never joke about food. So, we'll start with that. I have been dying to make a chewy, chocolatey, omnom-screaming brownie. My brownies last week were good, but they were more intense due to the added coffee. I have thus added a few little tricks of my own in the form of beer and salted caramel. And while I hate to brag, this brownie kicked some serious taste buds! I was nervous that the caramel was going to harden and cause dentists all over Nashville to curse Littlest Love. But fortunately for me, I made a quick, super soft caramel that was to die for. And thus it was both ooey and gooey inside those brownies. We all know those are the basic brownie requirements.

Ohh, look at those soft squares of buttery caramel goodness...

I went to the store in search for Guinness (brilliant!), but I happened upon this Vanilla Java Porter by Atwater Brewery (support Detroit!) in the beer aisle, and well, Guinness took the back burner. This stuff is delicious! I couldn't let the rest of 6-pack go to waste, so it's cooling in my fridge for a post-work beverage.

It poured a beautiful, brown caramel color, and was a great addition to the dark cocoa powder.

And there you have it. Thick, chewy, caramel-y brownies!

Ohhh... Ahhh...

Oh, now you want to hear about all the moves I've been making? As if it doesn't get better than salted caramel and chocolate, I have some totally SWEET news! As of now, Littlest Love has become a real-live business.  I have formed an LLC and handled 99% of the business side of things, and am just working on creating contacts and new friends in the form of suppliers and wholesalers who want to buy my goods!

If you think that's not exciting enough, I am working on a survey that I plan to send out very soon that will request your honest opinions. The survey results will likely be the decision-maker in whether or not I offer an online-only Cookie of the Month Club! How many of you want fresh cookies from Littlest Love over-nighted to your doorstep?! Survey Monkey will tell all!

In the meantime, I'll be baking more cookies and brownies this week!  And next weekend, I'll be baking cupcakes for a friend's birthday party. I'm still trying to conjure up a final peanut butter cupcake combination, so if you have any ideas, please share here in my comments, or find me on Facebook!

My First Gig!

Today's post isn't going to be full of tasty pictures because I was so caught up and nervous about getting everything done in time!  One of Justin's co-workers asked me to bake for her boyfriend's surprise 40th birthday party, and I just could not refuse. A chance to see what "catering" is like? 50+ people seeing what I can do? It was the perfect opportunity to test the waters and I could not have been more excited. We decided on about 70 cookie sandwiches - 35 lemon/lemon, and 35 chocolate/peanut butter.

Friday afternoon, I took out all of my ingredients and placed them on the counter. I grabbed all of my whisks, spoons, measuring cups, and knives and I thumbed through my little, pink recipe book until I got to the right page. And then I walked over to the couch and sat down. Turns out, I was more nervous than I thought. This was my first attempt at sharing my baked goods with complete strangers. Were they going to like it? Was I going to be up until 2 a.m. baking cookies?? And then suddenly my nerves turned into excitement and I couldn't wait to get started!!

So I turned on the stove. And then I started creaming the butter and the sugar, and zesting the lemons, and sifting the cocoa powder. I started measuring the flour, and combining the dry ingredients. And then before I knew it, Justin was home and I had already baked over 70 cookies!

And thankfully, I have an incredible support system of friends and family who were cheering me on and helping me get everything together. Justin and some of our wonderful friends, Mike and Mary, came over to help me package the cookie sandwiches and put stickers on flyers with my contact information that I had made to hand out at the party. I was finished and the kitchen was clean as a whistle by 11 p.m.

Final product, all packaged up!

This is me around 10:45pm. Clean up crew!

The actual event flew by in the blink of an eye. I showed up, met some great people, made a few connections, and watched everyone enjoy my cookie sandwiches! It was really fun, and I'm looking forward to being able to do this more often!

If you haven't noticed, Littlest Love has gone into full swing! I've got a Facebook page, a new e-mail address, and there's more REALLY exciting news on the way! Stay tuned for the next post to hear all about it!

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes & a HUGE Birthday Bash!

I'm excited to announce some sensational news with all of you, but first I have to talk about these delicious key lime pie cupcakes. It's been a feat in the making, trying to get a proper meringue frosting together. And what I've learned is that Swiss meringue buttercream is my Everest.  I have yet to complete it without it turning into a) a drippy & yet still delicious mess, or b) a lumpy, curdled embarrassment. So, in order to complete the cupcakes without going through an entire grocery store of egg whites and sugar, I decided to focus on meringue frosting (sans Swiss buttercream). And it turned out pretty beautifully! The key lime frosting filled graham cracker cupcake was the perfect vehicle for such a sweet, fluffy topping. See for yourselves...

Yup, that was fun. But now you're all waiting to hear about my news! I know! I can hardly type it I'm so excited. I got my first gig!  This Saturday a co-worker of Justin's is throwing her boyfriend a HUGE birthday party. And guess where she's getting her desserts?  That's right. I'll be baking for 50+ people in my tiny kitchen and it's going to be beyond amazing!

If that couldn't be any more exciting, I've finally gotten everything in order (including my fear) to form an LLC and begin baking in a commercial kitchen space! While I'll be getting everything filed and organized this month, I won't be baking commercially until September due to several planned trips in August. So be prepared in the next few weeks for a post about a real deal website, a space to bake commercially and a possible Cookie of the Month Club order form!

Red, White & Nomnoms!

Fourth of July is the day that Americans celebrate 'Merica's birthday by lighting shit on fire, eating until we can't move, and yelling " 'Merica! " at the top of our lungs every time someone mentions beer, anything deep fried, or the colors red, white and blue. It's a time when we all get just a little bit redneck, a little bit patriotic, and a lotta bit full.

And now I get to talk about my redneck, patriotic, and super full week(end)! I started it off early on Tuesday night, baking and shipping cookies to Orlando. Those cookies then made there way to St. Augustine for a VoicePlay performance! They were dispersed amongst family and friends, and from the pictures I received it looked like everyone really enjoyed themselves. I know I had a great time baking these star-cutout brownie cookies. They were chewy in the middle and crisp around the edges, and they were filled with strawberry and blueberry buttercream. And by golly, they screamed 'Merica!

Naturally, I couldn't let the leftover buttercream go to waste, so the little cutouts made cute little star brownie bites that I shared with some local friends.

Wednesday evening I went for a true American pie. I didn't go for the usual strawberry, blueberry and whipped cream stars and stripes. No, I went big. Since blackberries are in season (and a recent obsession of mine) I went for a blackberry and lime pie. And I used a family recipe for the pie crust that would bring big, fat patriotic tears to your eyes. Just look at that golden brown, super delicious, perfectly baked star pie!

As you can see, this bad mamma-jamma didn't last long...

As for the rest of my baking, I put it on hold for a quick trip to Chattanooga as a last hurrah with some Nashville friends who are moving away. We ended up eating plenty of delicious food, all of which I could talk about in great length. Some of the hot spots were: Urban Stack, Aretha Frankenstein's (pancakes pictured below), Rembrandt's (see a picture of Rembrandt's "Nun" - a double stacked chocolate cream puff - here), and Heaven & Ale (four 4-oz sampler pictured below).

Aretha Frankenstein's blueberry pancakes (not pictured: Irish 8-Ball = Guinness + 2 Shots Espresso):

Heaven & Ale - an awesome new growler-fill and tasting station in Chattanooga!

Did everyone enjoy their 4th of July?? Please share links to your holiday festivities! To 'Merica!