Happy Veterans Day! Plus a chocolate pistachio tart, blueberry yogurt granola pie and homemade Oreos

I know I start every post with a food picture, and I suppose that's fitting since it's a food blog. But even more important is that today's Veterans Day. In honor of that, some very special photos:

To my Grandpa Hawley, who was in the Army Air Corps during World War II and based in Utah. I got to visit his base just a month ago. He was the next in line to be shipped out to Europe, but luckily wasn't. He mostly flew B-24s and A-25s but also flew some other planes, like the Memphis Belle.

And to my Grandpa Hofmeister, who was already in his 30s when he went to Germany and France under Gen. Patton in World War II. I always remember him as a quiet man, but he saw some crazy stuff when he was overseas. I'm so grateful to have a few records of it. This is my post from last year, that has more photos of both of them.

And finally, to my cousin Jon, who went to Iraq very soon after the U.S. went in there. Sometimes it doesn't cross my mind, but I'm lucky to be able to see him fairly easily now, especially when Aunt Betty, Uncle David and I drop sweets by at his and his fiance's house. For the longest time, we couldn't see him. So happy Veterans Day to all of them.

All right, back to the food. This is one of my most favorite desserts I've ever made. Seriously. Salty+sweet is one of my favorite things, and this chocolate pistachio tart fit the bill. Thank Martha, yet again. The crust is chocolate with chopped pistachios, and then you make the pistachio paste layer (I made a lot more than the recipe called for because it made it a lot easier to spread). Then the top layer is a basic chocolate custard. I think this might be my birthday cake (tart?) next year!

I made that tart at Aunt Betty's, and this second pie we made at her house as well. This one is a yogurt blueberry pie with granola crust. Yet another Martha recipe. The granola we used was from the Merc and it was a maple pecan one, which I think I might use in a future crust. It made for a nice crunch and some good flavor. I think this looks like breakfast, no?

And for my only non-pie-style dessert this week, homemade Oreos. I made these once but was a little too impatient with the dough, I think, and didn't roll it out as well. But I'd forgotten how good these are, and so much better than the commercial versions. The cookies themselves are almost salty, but with the filling, it works out perfectly. I don't have the patience to follow the recipe and let the filling sit for six hours (!) so I let it go for a while and then add in sifted powdered sugar, which makes a more frosting-y texture rather than the ganache, which the recipe wants. I prefer it that way. And so does everyone at work, because I'm at three requests for the recipe. Always good to know people are satisfied.

Butterbeer cupcakes, fruit pie and red velvet holiday cupcakes

In the last few weeks, I've been to the lake for the Fourth of July, packed up my entire house and moved. I took a couple days off of work, and with the help of my dad, stepmom, aunt and uncle, moved to a city about an hour from where I lived. My mom and her boyfriend stayed behind to clean my old house while the rest of us loaded stuff into what looked like far too small an apartment. In fact, it is not. There's lots of nice nooks and crannies for my stuff. It's not quite put together yet, but apparently this stuff takes time. And now my commute has been cut down from one hour to about five minutes! So yes, I've been absent from here for a bit, but I promise it was for a good reason!

So that means a couple of my desserts this week were for Fourth of July celebrating, like this fruit pie. I've never made it before, but Aunt Betty suggested it. It was a basic sugar cookie dough with a topping made with cream cheese, whipped cream and sugar. Pretty basic, but very tasty, and an excellent way to use fresh fruit from the summer.

For the Fourth, I wanted to make red velvet cupcakes, but lemme tell you, these were not easy cupcakes. The thing about camp is that it's relaxed, and you don't stay there full time, so you don't have all the ingredients needed for things. We have a neighbor, Eddie Mae, who cooks a lot, and thank goodness for her. I think I went to her house three separate times for these cupcakes. I needed a cupcake tin, and then buttermilk and corn starch (to make my own cake flour!), and then more vegetable oil. Luckily, after all that, they turned out quite well!

These I made as my first cupcakes in my new apartment! I'm still learning the oven, so it's going to take lots of practice. They're butterbeer cupcakes, in honor of Harry Potter. No, I haven't seen the new movie yet. I'm rereading the whole series so I can remember the story better first, and I'm on book three. So just give me some time :) These cupcakes were wonderful, and even the non-butterscotch lovers liked them! The cake was a mix of cream soda (mmmmmm!) with vanilla and butter flavoring, and a nice butterscotch icing and butterscotch ganache.

(Posting these cupcakes on Cupcake Tuesday!)

The best bread ever, Kansas style

I haven't baked brownies in two days. I think that might be a record right now! Too bad, because it will be broken on Thursday, when I bake brownies for the LJWorld newsroom.

I started my internship there today. It was fun to be back. I think it's always fun for a journalist to start reporting again after a hiatus. It was also super nice to see my friends there.

I'm staying away from the Kansan newsroom right now. Not intentionally, but because I don't need to go that far over on campus often, and it's REALLY cold outside, and I'm finding I have a ton of other stuff I need to accomplish. I have been taking some baked goods there, but it seems to be on the same night each time: Thursday. Probably because that's my easiest day in general.

So last Thursday, Stephen asked for something with blueberries. I was going to make blueberries and cream cupcakes a la Martha, but didn't feel like going through the whole process of cupcaking. So I a la Marthaed a different dessert — blueberry sour cream pound cake with lemon whipped cream. It's a good thing it made two loaves too. I didn't really like the recipe for the whipped cream, because it only used lemon zest. It was kind of weird, so I put lemon juice in as well and then it was super lemony. Went over well though. I didn't get a photo before the last piece, and since I was in the newsroom, the most obvious choice to take the photo was a photographer. So, here is the most professional photo this blog will ever have, shot and imaged by Mr. Tanner Grubbs.

Then I made brownies, but that's old news. The smoked turkey, scalloped potatoes and pasta salad that went with it weren't. Super yummy.

Monday I made monster cookies. When I worked at Capers in high school, a place that served coffee as well as baked goods, it was one of their best-selling cookies. How could it not be? Oats, peanut butter, chocolate chips and M&Ms could hardly be a losing combination. This is the recipe I use, although I leave out the raisins. Yuck. I've made them in the past, though, and they've always come out a little too crunchy for me. This time I accidentally put in too much peanut butter and they were yummy and chewy and wonderful. Plus, they had Valentine's Day M&Ms. I'm such a sucker for holiday baking items.

Like I said, today I started back at the Lawrence Journal-World. I worked there this summer in the features department, and this time I'm doing news stuff. Well I was reading an article that my good friend from the features department Sarah wrote on baking bread. Then I read the chat that came from the article. Included at the bottom were recipes for loaves. I've been mildly successful with sandwich bread, but the recipe for Kansas Sunflower Bread caught my eye. I love sunflower seeds and that kind of thing, so it just looked so yummy. Plus, I'm in Kansas. How could I resist? I like shopping at the Merc when I'm trying out a recipe like this, because buying in bulk for one batch is actually easier. Plus, this called for wheat bulgur. I'd heard of it, but figured the Merc would be the only place to find it. I went through bulk about 4 times before finally asking someone to help me find it...right in front of my eyes. Apparently you have to soak bulgur in water, so I did that and then made my first batch, only to realize my water might have been too hot for the yeast and might have killed it. So I made another batch. Guess which one rose? The first. Figures. I made sure to let it rise extra high, and now I've got a giant loaf. I just tried it, and I think it might be my favorite bread ever. Seriously. I love the crunchiness of the oats and sunflower seeds inside, and because I let it rise for so long, it's nice and fluffy. I will definitely be making it again.

Sigh. Time to get back to homework.