Gingerbread Cookies

I was asked to bake some ginger bread cookies again this year. I found a wonderful recipe from Sweet Paul, another super-awesome food blogger that I adore. I refrigerated the dough, and then split it in half. I planned to use cookie cutters on all the dough, but flouring and re-flouring the surface actually dried out the dough more than people liked. The first batch consistency reminded me of animal crackers, good to some and just too dry for others - even dunked in hot cocoa. When it came time to bake the second batch I thickly sliced the dough and they came out much better. I toped them off with white sugar crystals, which added just the right amount of sugar. See the link to the recipe below!

http://www.sweetpaulmag-digital.com/sweetpaulmag/holiday2010#pg36

First Creation

Ta-da! The very first creation from my brand spankin' new KitchenAid stand mixer. I got one heck of a deal on it. Of course, I had to venture out into the dreaded Black Friday abysmal pre-dawn to get it. It was worth it. A huge thanks goes out to my folks for helping me snag it! My dad has a killer employee discount at Belks, plus they were having a sale on them and oh, did I mention we had a coupon??




Anyway I couldn't wait until Christmas to open the thing. I HAD to make something asap. I found this heavenly Chocolate Raspberry cupcake recipe from Annies-Eats. An amazing food blog that I now stalk frequently for inspiration. The recipe did tell you to turn the raspberries into truffles and that little tidbit went horribly wrong - chocolate ganach everywhere. I blame the fact that in our January move I lost all my snazzy frosting tips and bags. I will attempt this again, hopefully with amazing results. See recipe below. Oh I'd like to point out that there are two versions of this recipe and I believe that I chose the easier of the two. I took these into work with me to test out on my un-assuming co-workers, who are hands down the best guinea pigs in the world. My husband just tells me everything I make is "alright".



Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cupcakes


Ingredients:


For the cupcakes:

9 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup strong coffee (or water)

1/2 cup whole or low-fat milk



For the filling:

Seedless raspberry jam



For the raspberry truffles:

2 pints fresh raspberries

5 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

1/3 cup heavy cream



For the frosting:

16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Pink icing color (optional)



Directions:

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In a small bowl sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions.

In a liquid measuring cup, combine the coffee and milk. Add half of the dry ingredients to the mixer and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Stir in the coffee-milk mixture and mix until combined. Add in the remaining dry ingredients, again mixing just until incorporated. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling the cups about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, heat some raspberry jam just enough to allow for easy stirring and smooth texture (I do about 20-30 seconds). Transfer the jam to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, poke into each cupcake and pipe a small amount inside.

To make the raspberry truffles, rinse fresh raspberries and transfer to a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Gently shake the berries around to remove excess water. Place the chocolate and jam in a small heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate and jam. Let stand for about 3 minutes. Whisk together gently until smooth. If any unmelted lumps remain, microwave a few seconds and whisk again. Let the ganache cool a bit until it has thickened slightly (enough to be piped through a pastry bag). Once it has reached the right consistency, transfer the ganache to a pastry bag and pipe into the center of the clean raspberries. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes to set.

To make the frosting, place the butter and jam in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream on medium-high speed until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Sift in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Tint with icing color as desired.

To finish the cupcakes, frost with the raspberry jam buttercream and top with a few of the raspberry truffles.



ENJOY!

2010 Recap & Beyond

This year was a crazy derby filled year for me. I gave up the stripes for my team's jersey and took my place on the track where I knew I belonged with my teammates. Derby bonds were forged and new courses were chartered for some. The URGE definately experienced their share of low points, but certainly enjoyed some major high points this year. All in all the URGE closed out their 2010 first season with a 4-4 record. Not too shabby for our first official bouting year. I sincerely hope that my league will take heed of several lessons learned this season and go on to make 2011 an even greater year for derby in the Upstate. 

Now, where do you start after months of no blogging? Fresh, of course. Hopefully I gave enough light to the back story of grassroots roller derby getting it's foot hold in the Upstate with the Reedy River Roller Girls. I plan to recap the bouts, the ups and downs of our 2010 season the best I can - especially the recap on our final bout of 2010, it's the stuff TV movies are made of, while also chronicling my new adventure's and side projects as well. 

Happy Holidays from the derby world.



Cinco De Dieo & Roller Derby History

It was really happening! I had found enough girls that wanted to do this "roller derby thing" and make it a reality with me. Along the way we caught wind of the league down in Myrtle Beach, SC - The Palmetto State Rollergirls. They had enough girls and we had enough girls and it was high time that the state of South Carolina saw some flat-track roller derby action!

As we prepared for our very first bout, the two teams that we split off into The Renegades of Funk & Project Mayhem were falling apart. We made the decision to hold seperate team practices, seperate team meetings, everything and that in turn drove a lot of girls away. As the date for the bout approached, we scrapped the two would be home teams to for our league's travel team: The Reedy River Rollergirl Outlaws.

We came together, worked our bootys off, on and off the track. And even with our league's issues we came together and managed to pull out a squaker of a win, thanks to Torch who got us the game winning 2 points that we needed.

 Although it was a small victory for us, it was huge for the sport in the state of South Carolina, because at that game were some very curious girls from Columbia....

Why I Do Derby

So many people ask me why I do derby. Why I would put up with all these loud mouth women and angry bench coaches jumping all in my grits. My family wonders how I find the time to waste on such a thing when I work 40+ hours a week, sell AVON on the side, am taking a full class load this semester, have new baby girl and hubby at home. While all of the above is gratifying (minus the grits business) - roller derby is my release.




I deal with an unbelievable amount of stress on a daily basis. I deal with so many rude, asinine, ignorant, arrogant, severely negative people every single day that I would go completely and utterly bonkers if I didn't have roller derby in my life. If I didn't have a means to vent my anger and frustration at this cruel and unjust world. You would probably find me on the news on some vigilantly rampage. So be very glad I have roller derby in my life!



I'd much rather deal with angry bench coaches and loud mouth skaters than the some of the reps I have to deal with at work. At least I know that the skaters would buy me a shot at the after party.



Another reason are the women I get to meet and bond with. Women who, yes come from all different walks of life, but I find that many of us are walking the same path or have already been down the path. So many women to share encouragement, strength, and a drink with. I wouldn't be the person I am today with out meeting and skating with these ladies!



ROLLER GIRLS RULE!

Behind the Stripes

Bare with me as I take a break from my trip down memory lane for a second and recapping a little from the bout yesterday. The Upstate Roller Girl Evolution hosted "Confrontational Invitational" yesterday @ The Pavilion in Greenville. It featured skaters from several different leagues, URGE, Richland County Regulators, Columbia Quad Squad, Blue Ridge Rollergirls, & Greenville Derby Dames. Way to go Team Red for taking a commanding lead and being able to hold on to it while Blue tried many a valiant attempts at a come back.




The whole idea behind the invitational and the one they hosted previously called "Red, White & Bruised" in July, is to give newer skaters bouting experience without it "going on a leagues record". Now they weren't all rookie skaters, but they did make up the majority. It also gives refs & volunteers from all the leagues experience in running bouts.



With my crazy school schedule, I opted to help ref the invitational since being a ref is all I can do for the rest of the season. It wasn't my first rodeo with jam reffing, but it was my first time under the WFTDA 4.0 rules - don't get me started on some of those rules man. Let me just sum it up as I hate the whole being able to re-engage, fall behind and still retain lead jammer status/points crap. What happened to the good ol' days where if you committed a foul or stepped out of bounds you didn't get lead or the point?? *sigh* WFTDA I don't know what you were thinking when you passed that rule into effect...but bring back the good ol' days! Do you know just how much of a nightmare it is trying to keep your eyes on the jammers skates while the pack has turned into a cluster-*%$#? Or trying to keep so many damn rookie skaters/refs in line? To all you skaters, coaches, & bench coaches out there - give it a try sometime it's a damn fine humbling experience and it gives you new found respect for those who wear the stripes. But it was still good ol' derby fun! Thank you to Liquor Possi from Blue Ridge Rollergirls for Head Reffing and having the patience of a saint! Thank you to Grumpy Ol' Man & Grumpy Ol' Lady from Charlotte Rollergirls for helping out with the stats & penalties. Thank you to Referend David Caress, Dippin' Dot from Richland County Regulators from lending an experience hand. Thank you to El Jefe from Columbia Quad Squad for earning some more stripes (hahaha no pun intended). Thank you to DD Dragon & Yeti from Greenville Derby Dames for rolling with us. Hands down the toughest bout I've ever had to ref in my life, but I still can't wait for October's "Heaven Help Us!!"

New Girls, New Issues

So let's face one fact that has held true for all of time - when you get a bunch of women together there's bound to be drama. Especially when the woman are a bunch of independent, out-spoken, strong-willed, passionate and "don't-take-no-crap-from-no-one" women. We all know that these are the very women that are drawn to roller derby. The sport wouldn't exist without these women. There wouldn't have been an original A&E series called Rollergirls if there wasn't any drama to put on TV.

In the early months of the league we had encountered some issues with a skater or two and how to handle unsportswoman like conduct (intentionally trying to hurt your own teammate just because you don't like her is considered unsportswoman like conduct). I still kick myself in the pants today about not being more aggressive about it. Letting issues go and trying to make everyone happy really hurt more in the long run and I learned that you're never going to make everyone happy. Someone is always going to get the short end of the stick. I didn't want to scare the skaters away that we had, especially strong skaters, but we ended up losing them because they weren't happy with the majority ruling. Such is life in roller derby. Women will come and women will go over the biggest or smallest things. You've got to remember that roller derby leagues "are run for the skaters, by the skaters" and everyone has a different philosophy on how their league should be run. However it should be everyone's main goal to uphold the Orders of Operations that the league put in place.

Yes we lost some of our founding skaters over the months Mama MIA, Ginger Snap, Boxcutter Betty & we lost a few new recruits to injuries, broken ankles, torn ligaments, & busted up knees. But with these departure's brought us new girls like Pitchaso, Ruby Sinn, Bombshell Bekah, Kimmy Kaos, & Hold'er Back Holland a.k.a Annathrax a.k.a Ivanna Skate. Eventually by March of 2008 we had officially enough skaters to break off into two home teams and in March we received a call from the Palmetto State Rollergirls inviting us to skate in not only our league's first official bout, but the first ever flat-track roller derby bout in the state of SC.