Friday Faves – Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
I’m very excited about this week’s Friday Favs. Culinary Concoctions by Peabody is one of those blogs that literally makes me drool. Peabody takes baked goods to a whole new level. And the photos in her blog are amazing. I love that she puts it all out there and shares her life, and her delicious treats, with her readers. I’ve been eyeing that cinnamon roll cheesecake since the second it got posted. You guys all know how much I love cinnamon rolls…
Hello All! My name is Peabody (yep, that’s my first name, go with it). I was named after the cartoon dog on Rocky and Bullwinkle, which interestingly enough is being made into a movie with Robert Downy Jr. playing Mr. Peabody. Somehow I never pictured my life being played by a man, oh well. 🙂 I run the baking and dessert blog called Culinary Concoctions by Peabody (world’s longest name I know). My site is dedicated to taking desserts putting a slight twist on them (usually a fattening twist). Most of my readers refer to me as evil, which I take as a compliment. I have to, or I cry myself to sleep at night. 😛
I live north of Seattle, WA with my crazy cocker spaniel and little fuzzy bunny. My dog spends her days trying to figure out how to trip me and my bunny is plotting to take over the world (just as soon as he can figure out how to get out of the cage). When I’m not baking, the likelihood of finding me at the local hockey rink is high. I play on two teams, both men’s. I am even the captain of one of the teams. When I’m not playing hockey, I’m score keeping it in order to pay for the hockey I play. It’s all a vicious cycle.
I started my blog 5 ½ years ago when my now ex-husband (don’t worry, we still like each other as people) was driving me crazy with his eating, or lack thereof, habits. He didn’t eat soup, beans, veggies (except potatoes or corn), fruit (except apples) or dessert. He really just wanted me to make chocolate chip cookies and sloppy Joes pretty much every day. He literally ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day for lunch at work. So I needed a creative outlet. I saw a food blog, pointed to the screen, and said I want to do that. Lucky for me he was a computer programmer who was able to set that up for me.
The main goal of my blog is:
1. To inspire you to make what you see.
2. Make it simple enough so that the majority of you can make it.
3. Try not to get too wild with the weird ingredients so you can find the ingredients at the store.
4. To remind you that no life is worth living without a little indulgence once in a while…otherwise known as… a Sugar Free Pudding Cup is not dessert!
Some of my better known concoctions are:
The Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake: Literally half cinnamon roll, half cheesecake.
The Captain Crunch Chocolate Chip Cookie: Where you make Captain Crunch into flour and use it to make a wonderful flavored cookie.
The NY Style Crumb Cake Topped Cinnamon Roll: Cinnamon Rolls topped with the famed NY Style Crumb Cake Topping that usually goes on top of coffee cake.
The Tiramisu Cupcake: Vanilla Cupcakes filled with Espresso Chocolate Mousse and Topped with Mascarpone Frosting and Sprinkled with Ladyfingers.
So as you can see, calorie friendly I am not. But my site is for those times when you feel you are special enough (and you are) to indulge! So stop on by and buy some larger pants, you’re gonna need them. 😛
Be sure to check out all of my favorite bloggers as they are featured on Friday Favs!
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I am of two minds on this post. On the one hand, my OCD really kicked in when I read that you had not followed Mark Bittman’s recipe but still decided to write about it. Seemed a bit sloppy for a nerd and an engineer. On the other hand, that is how Pasteur discovered Penicillin. Bittman is such a great cook, that I think he deserves better treatment; so I plan to do him the honor of making his recipe. I am not going to make the other two though!
Oops! Senior moment that – it was the Scottish scientist and Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming in 1928. Apparently, the Pasteur Institut ignored the work of a French physician, Ernest Duchesne, who in 1897 discovered the curative properties of the Penicillium Glaucum, a different mold than the one Fleming discovered, but in the same genus. Gotta love Wikipedia.
There are two tapioca recipes on the Minute Tapioca box. I always use the one for Fluffy Pudding, which calls for 2 cups milk and whipping the egg whites separately from the cooked milk with tapioca and egg yolk. I think you will find the pudding much improved over the basic recipe.
Also, the quality of the vanilla makes a huge difference in something like tapioca. Cooks Illustrated likes McCormick and I found this on amazon and at Sam’s Club in large bottles for very reasonable prices.
One other note: I find that CI has a sweet tooth: their recipes are sometimes too sweet for my taste, though they are a go-to source otherwise.
This is an interesting discussion. I tried the Kraft recipe today. I threw everything (except the vanilla) in the blender before putting it on the stove. I also added 1/2 tsp. salt and a bit more vanilla. I actually thought it was sweet enough already, though. However, I agree with your overall conclusion that it’s a bit boring. Well, at least it was easy. Anyway, next time I may a recipe using large tapioca. 🙂
Thanks for the comparison.