The Factory News at SHU

BGT - December 17

Today's baked good: cream cheese brownies

 

BGT - December 10

Since people typically bake a lot during the Christmas season, I doubled up on recipes again this week.  I was dying to try my mother's recipe for Sandies, and I also wanted to make decorative Christmas cupcakes.

First for the cupcakes:  I made them the way I always do - it's both a timesaver and a healthier way to make them.

Ingredients:  

1 box cupcake mix (because it was Christmas time, I used a box of Christmas   Funfetti mix from Target)
1 1/2 cups diet Sprite (or diet 7up, diet Sierra Mist - any clear diet soda will do)
1 egg (or half an egg beater if you're being healthy)

1.  Beat the igredients together for about two minutes or until completely blended.  Spoon an equal amount into each cupcake wrapper, 

2.  Pop them into the oven at 350 degrees for the amount of time specified on the box (I think it's 18-24 minutes, but I'm sitting at my desk writing this from memory, so I could be wrong).    

3.  Once the cupcakes are cool, frost them with whatever frosting you choose.  I did half chocolate and half vanilla.  Another option is using Pillsbury's new frosting in a can - it's very simple to get an elegantly frosted cupcake this way.  However, I just used a butter knife.

4.  I purchased a package of six different types of sprinkles and candy decorations for baking creations.  I mixed them up and did a few cupcakes with each type.

And now, for the Sandies: Recipe coming soon!

 

BGT - December 3

Hi everyone!!

 Time to get into the Christmas spirit, and what better way than with baking some special Christmas treats?  Today I made two different types of cookies - Chocolate & Peanut Butter Pinwheels, and Candy Cane Cookies.  I can't take credit for either recipe - though I did tweak them both a bit.  The pinwheels recipe was from Better Homes & Gardens, while the candy canes recipe I adapted from a recipe on about.com.

First: the pinwheels.  I'm copying the recipe from the website, since I followed it pretty much to the letter.  If I did make any changes, I've noted them in bold.

Ingredients

• 1 18-ounce roll refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 18-ounce roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl combine peanut butter cookie dough and flour; use a wooden spoon to mix well. Divide dough in half.

2. In another large mixing bowl combine sugar cookie dough and cocoa powder; use another wooden spoon to mix well. Divide dough in half.

3. Place half the peanut butter dough on a piece of wax paper, and place another sheet on top of that.  Roll out the dough to a 12x6 inch rectangle.  Repeat for half of the sugar cookie dough.  Remove the top pieces of waxed paper, and invert one rectangle on top of the other; press down gently to seal. Remove top piece of waxed paper. Tightly roll up into a spiral, starting from a long side. Repeat with remaining dough portions.

4. Wrap and chill dough logs in plastic wrap for 1 hour or until firm enough to slice.

5. Using a sharp knife, cut dough logs into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place slices 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

6. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool. Makes about 60 cookies.

Notes: This was a pretty simple one.  I didn't realize that I had to let the dough chill for an hour, so whereas I thought this was going to be a quick and easy cookie to make, it turned out to take much longer than expected.  The cookies were well-received, though, and I'd definitely make them again.

Next up: Candy Cane Cookies

Ingredients:  

• 14 tablespoons butter (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 to 6 drops red food coloring
• candied red cherry slivers, silver decorations, red sugar, multicolored decorative candies, and other decorations

Preparation:

1.  In a large bowl with electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and almond extract. Gradually beat in the flour until blended. 

2.  Remove half of the dough to a sheet of waxed paper. Wrap and chill for about 1 hour. 

3.  Add the red food coloring to the remaining dough (I didn't measure this out - I just added enough until it turned red enough for my liking); mix on low speed until blended. Wrap in waxed paper and chill for about 1 hour.

4.  Preheat oven to 350°.  

5.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out small sections of the red and plain cookie dough.  Hold one end and twist them around until you have what resembles a rope.  Some recipes don't call for this, but I then roll the rope together to fully blend the two pieces of dough together.  Make sure the pieces are at least 1/2 inch thick.  Place the rolled dough in the shape of a candy cane on a baking sheet.  Make sure you leave enough room between the cookies, because they puff up when you bake them.

6.  If you want to, you can sprinkle the dough with colored sugar, candies, etc - but I thought they looked nice just as they were. 

6.  Pop them in the oven for 8 - 12 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly browned.  Let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely. Store in tightly covered containers with waxed paper between layers. These cookies will keep for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for longer storeage. Makes about 2 dozen cookies, depending on how thick they are.

Til next time - Happy baking!

Screen Shots & Snipping Tools – Powerpoint Made Easy

Creating a powerpoint presentation often requires you to obtain graphics. We usually get these from the web, but sometimes we can’t copy them. Perhaps the copy feature is disabled or you are trying to get them from Google Books Here are two simple ways you can obtain graphics from anywhere even from programs on your computer.

 

The Print Screen (PrtSc) key can be used to take a screen shot of any screen on your computer. It is located above the F10 key. This works on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. Once you do, run Microsoft Paint. You can run it by going to Start > All Programs > Accessories > Microsoft Paint. Here you can select Paste. You can either make changes to your image by adding highlights, circles or cut out exactly what you want.

Windows Vista & Windows 7 offers a simpler method. If you click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Snipping Tool. You can use this program to select exactly what you want on the screen. Here you can then paste directly into powerpoint word or save to an image. You select new then hightlight what you want!

By Joe Sousa

What's on your wishlist?

Christmas is on its way!! And of course, we all know that means we’re going to have to start making our Christmas lists to send Santa’s way.  So, what’s on yours?

If you don’t have any ideas yet, here are a few new technological toys that might interest you – just for the fun of it!

·         An external hard drive! Maybe this doesn’t sound like a great investment to you right now, but as college students, we all know how horrifying it is when our computers crash and ALL OUR DATA IS LOST!!!  That’s right, the 15 page research paper you’d been working on since October will be gone if you don’t back it up!  An external hard drive is a great investment to make sure all your stuff is safe!

·         A digital camera!  Once again, we’re all in college, so what better way to document all your exciting adventures than with a cool new digital camera!?  I’m partial to the Sony brand, as its always been reliable and easy to use for me, but there are tons of good cameras out there :) Google it!

·         A cell phone?  Technology is getting pretty extreme these days.  For someone like me, who still has a pretty ancient flip phone, getting a new cell phone seems pretty epic.  I’ve been looking at a few Verizon phones lately that seem really useful!  There are tons of new phones that allow for certain apps, like turn-by-turn navigation (for those of us who have an awful sense of direction!) and being able to check your email no matter where you are! Sounds awesome, right?

I mean, these are only a few of the things I’ve come across, and I’m pretty sure they’re all things most of us probably already have, but like I said, technology is always coming up with new inventions to get your wheels turning, and maybe it wouldn’t be the worst idea to look into some of these things, as they might prove to be pretty exciting for you!

By Michelle Bostley

It's magic!

    Recently I purchased an Apple Magic Mouse. This thing has changed my life and the way I use my Mac. It has all the same features as its predecessor the mighty mouse with some added goodies, like an external trackpad for multi touch gestures recognized by OSX. Just like my trackpad on my laptop body, i can use two fingers to scroll around webpages, a quick press of control and a flick of my finger will zoom the screen centered on the mouse pointer. Those are the ones I use the most. Oh an for those of you who say "mac doesn't have a right click" - there is an added option for left, center, and right click recognition in the mouse menu. Oh yeah, best part it doesn't use valuable USB port real estate on the macbook, it works fully on bluetooth!

Consider picking one up for the hefty price of $69.99. It is well worth every cent.

Paul Carrier

 

BGT - November 19th

Hi guys and gals!! I'm back with a special Thanksgiving treat for you.  I first made these Turkey Cupcakes a few years back - I think it was a Betty Crocker recipe, but I'm not positive.  They were a big hit on the dessert table during Thanksgiving back then, so naturally I wanted to share it with you. 

For this recipe, you will need:
- 1 box cake mix (any type will do) plus the ingredients that are called for*
- Cupcake wrappers
- Chocolate frosting in Milk Chocolate
- 1 bag candy corn
- some type of small white candy for eyes (the ones I used were part of a 6-pack of sprinkles)
- Optional - Pillsbury Easy Frost in Chocolate

1.  Bake the cupcakes as directed. 

* I followed a recipe I got from Weight Watchers a while back - instead of using the ingredients on the box, you bake them with 1 1/2 cups of a diet soda (Sprite/7up/Sierra Mist go with yellow cake mix, Pepsi/Coke go with chocolate), an egg or half an Egg Beater, and the cake mix.  Mix together for about two minutes or until completely blended

2.  Remove from oven and let them cool completely.

3.  Frost the cupcakes with chocolate icing as you normally would. 

4.  If you have the Easy Frost, making the heads are quite easy.  Pick a spot on the edge of the cupcake and frost in a small circle upwards until you have something that resembles a head.  If not, use my easy Ziploc bag trick: put frosting into a Ziploc and cut off a good sized hole on one of the bottoms.  Voilà! Instant pastry bag.

5.  Poke a candy corn into the turkey's head as shown to represent a beak.  

6.  Place two white candies as eyes.  If I had gotten more creative (which I wish I had) I could have made another makeshift pastry bag and put dots on the white candy for eyeballs.  I didn't think about that until I was serving them.

7.  Take 5 candy corns and put them opposite the head for the tail feathers.  Be careful not to put them too close to the edge of the cupcake - they WILL break the edge of the cupcake.  Then the wrapper will fall down under the weight of the candy corn and you'll have to do some serious cupcake surgery to repair the turkey.  (Trust me.  It happened.)

8.  Ta-da!! You have a whole gang of turkeys just in time for Thanksgiving dessert!

By Kristina Bostley

Hands On: Blackberry Bold 9700

    Research In Motion recently came out with a brand new smart phone for T-Mobile and AT&T.  I just got my AT&T version of the Bold 9700 and the improvements that were made from all previous Blackberries is RIMarkable.  From the first glance at this phone you know that there is no other blackberry like it.  RIM made the best decision it has ever made and got rid of the dreaded trackball and replaced it with a trackpad.  This trackpad is very similar to what you would see on a laptop and is very responsive and easy to use. 
    The Bold 9700 is smaller in all dimensions than the previous Bold 9000.  It has a similar body to the Curve models, but it has the Bold keyboard.  At first the size was too small for typing and web surfing, but it quickly became natural and easy to hold in the hand.  The bold has an improved processor, screen resolution, and camera from the 9000.  The Bold 9700 has the following hardware: a 624 MHZ processor chip, 256MB Flash memory, a 480 x 360 resolution screen, built-in GPS and Wifi, and a 3.2 mp camera.  Also worth mentioning is the battery life of the installed 1500 mAh battery.  This battery will last about a day and half, even with the 3G and Wifi one.  The Bold 9700 is a fast and impressive workhorse Blackberry. 
    This is the one phone I would tell everyone to drop the phone they have now and go buy this one.  There are so many right things about this phone.  From the 5.0 operating system to the new SMS chat style, this phone is perfect for anybody.  The only major downfall of this phone is that it is only for AT&T or T-Mobile, two of the worst cellular service providers in the country.  The Bold 9700 is a major step for RIM towards the future of Blackberries and it is a large impressive step.

Jim Tangredi

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Hey everybody, Kevin here with my video game of the month review.  My game of the month is clearly the sequel to Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. The game’s campaign and multiplayer pretty much is similar to the first one, but newer missions and multiplayer maps makes it even better. 

I like the new edition this game brings and that is a co-op game play called special-ops missions. It’s a game mode where you and your partner take on short tactical missions and get rated with stars on your performance. The campaign takes place 5 years after the incidents in the first game, but it’s a similar story trying to stop another terroristic leader. The multiplayer is pretty much the same as the first game just some new customization features that make the multiplayer even better.

This game looks to be game of year and highly recommend buying if you are into first person shooter video games. Next month’s blog post I will be reviewing Assassin’s Creed II.

My rating: 10 out 10

Kevin Isler

BGT - November 12th

Hi all!! I'm back with a Thanksgiving edition of Baked Goods Thursday.  There's only two weeks until Thanksgiving, so that means it's time to get your thinking caps on and your aprons ready for the big day!

I made Pilgrims Hats this week, inspired by this recipe.  As per usual, I tweaked the recipe a bit to put my own special touch on it :)  Enjoy!!

You will need:  1 roll Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, 32 large marshmallows, semi-sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, Nestle dark chocolate & mint chips, 1/4 cup (give or take) white frosting & food coloring of your choice

I made two different variations of Pilgrims' Hats this week.  I took Pillsbury Sugar Cookie dough and let it thaw to room temperature.  I mixed in 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder until completely combined.  Ta-da - chocolate sugar cookies!  Here's how I mixed it up:

1.  I took half of the dough and rolled them into sixteen 1-inch balls, placing them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
2.  I took about 1/4 bag of peanut butter chips and mixed them into the rest of the cookie dough.  I rolled the rest of the dough into sixteen 1-inch balls and put them on another ungreased cookie sheet.
3.  Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
**Tip:  My oven only holds one cookie sheet per rack.  I switch them halfway through to make sure the cookies are baked evenly.
4.  In the meantime, melt the chocolate chips and the dark chocolate/mint chips in separate bowls.  I'd do them one at a time since they harden pretty quickly. 
5.  Find a toothpick or something to skewer the marshmallow with.  In my kitchen, I found a meat thermometer, which worked well for me.  (It's all about innovation, right?) 
6.  Skewer the marshamllows one at a time and dip them into the chocolate until the sides and top are covered.  The bottom doesn't matter, as it'll be attached to the bottom of the cookie anyway.  You'll need to end up with 16 semi-sweet chocolate covered marshmallows, and 16 dark chocolate/mint covered marshmallows.  Place on wax paper to dry. 
7.  The cookies should have finished while you were dipping the marshmallows.  (Unless you're super fast at dipping, in which case, I applaud you.)  Let them cool and then turn them over so that the bottoms cool as well, and they're ready to be attached.
8.  Once the chocolate-covered marshmallows are dry, divide the frosting in two separate bowls.  I used one with yellow food coloring and the other with blue.  I did this so that I could differentiate which cookies were the peanut butter ones, and which marshmallows were the mint ones. 
9.  I used blue for the mint covered marshmallows.  I placed the blue icing in a Ziploc bag and cut the tip off one of the ends.  I drew a rectangle toward the bottom of the marshmallow to resemble a buckle.  Then, put a dab of frosting on the bottom of the marshmallow and place it on top of the cookie. 
10.  Repeat for the peanut butter cookies.  I used yellow for these ones (mostly because buckles are usually gold, and because it reminded me of the color of peanut butter.  I didn't want to get confused when I was handing them out!)
11.  You're all done!  Put those hats on a tray and hand them out as you please.  Everyone will love them!

By Kristina Bostley