Very hot "hot sauce"

For the first time on my blog I will be talking about something my husband did in "Hanaâ's Kitchen" :o) He was growing tired of the store-bought hot sauce, which always tastes too vinegar-y and never hot enough. After a two year hiatus, he made a huge batch of hot sauce last weekend. Normally his homemade hot sauce consists of jalapeno peppers and/or Thai peppers. This time, it's Thai peppers and to kick it up a notch or 10, he added Piquin Chili Peppers. We bought them at Penzeys a couple weeks ago. At 140,000 Scoville units, they're the hottest peppers Penzeys carries. And so, last Sunday, about 2 gallons of very very hot "hot sauce" was born :o)

SMS - Caramel Apple-Cranberry Tart

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe was chosen by Susan of Baking with Susan. She picked the Double-Crusted Apple Pie, however, I decided to bake a tart instead. No messing around with 2 layers of pie dough and consequently less calories. To add more flavor to the apple filling, I added orange zest, dried cranberries, and cinnamon.

SMS - Carrot Cake

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe was Carrot Cake, chosen by Julie of Little Bit of Everything. This is an oil-based recipe, so you can pretty much whip this up anytime you feel like it. I halved the recipe and served the one-layer cake with White Chocolate Mousse I had left from making my wedding anniversary cake. I've tweaked the recipe a little bit by adding orange zest to the batter as well as 2-3 Tbsp of wheat bran. My guests and I loved this carrot cake. I received 2 recipe requests that night :o)

HCB - Chocolate Apricot Layer Cake with Lacquer Glaze (Wedding Anniversary Cake)

This week's recipe for the Heavenly Cake Bakers was the Chocolate Apricot Roll with Lacquer Glaze. I decided to transform this week's HCB cake into a layer cake... our wedding anniversary cake to be exact :o) The recipe says to fill the roll with chocolate ganache. Unfortunately, my husband is not a huge dark chocolate fan so I wanted to use something else to fill my layer cake. A while back I came across a white chocolate mousse recipe in Tish Boyle's book, Chocolate Passion, that caught my attention. I'm glad it did because it is phenomenal.

ABC - Pain d'Epices

The day has finally arrived. What’s so special about today, you’re wondering? Today is when Wafae and I launch our very own brand-spanking new baking project we like to call the ABC of the Month. Click HERE for more info on that.

I asked Wafae to do the honor of choosing our very first recipe from Baking for all Occasions, and she picked Pain d’Epices. It's a great first recipe because it's very easy and quick to make. You need two bowls: one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet ingredients. Then you add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, and mix. You could easily do it by hand without dirtying your mixer :o)