Black Cherry Burl Slab

A good customer called me a few weeks ago and described to me a new board that he wanted. He first said he wanted a unique board for his food photography, a board that no one else had, something really special and beautiful. Bob has ordered several times from me, so I knew as he described the board he was passionate about his food photography and his cooking. Bob is a wonderful chef and he post his food photography on his Instagram page, That_Paleo_Guy  

Before we hung up, my mission was to locate potential boards, take pictures and email to him. It wasn’t long before he had picked out the American Black Cherry Burl. This piece is a slab, live each with thick bark on all sides, which is exactly what Bob wanted.

After flattening and all the sanding, I applied half of the board with food grade mineral oil so that you could see the beautiful color transformation as the finish is applied.

The pictures I sent Bob was unfinished but you could tell that the Cherry Burl slab had really beautiful birds eye figuring with crazy grain and beautiful buttery colors. This board has more character than most pieces, it is absolutely beautiful!

The above shows the finish board after I removed it from the food grade mineral oil bath. Once dried I applied my Wood Conditioner.

 

The photo below was taken by Bob last week!!!

 

 

 

 

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Curly Figured Walnut

I was able to land some Curly Figured Walnut turning blocks the end of last week. These are hard to find in my area so I bought all this guy had.

On Friday, I prepared a couple of blocks for turning, cutting to size and adding the Blackwood. Today I turned the handle and mounted the stainless steel scoop. What do you think?

The ice cream scoops are heavy duty, the scoop is made of polished stainless steel. These stainless steel ice cream scoops make great gifts for any ice cream lover!

If you are not sure about a handcrafted Walnut ice cream scoop, check out my other designs!

Heavy Duty Ice Cream Scoop

12 inch board with unique handle!

Oval Cutting Board with Juice Groove

 

A couple weeks ago I was contact by email by about making a board. She was looking for a replacement oval cutting board insert for a sterling silver platter. She told me that she could find these platters on wedding gift website. The problem was if the board gets broken or you lose your board, you are out of luck, they do not offer a new replacement board.

She said the board was used for carving meat and it had a juice groove. It was oval, 14-1/4 inches long by 9 inches wide. The underside was beveled to fit into the silver platter. After several emails with pictures, she sent me her old board, she wanted to know if I could make 4 of them exactly like her old board. The next day her old board arrived.

Her old board was made from maple wood, the measurements were exactly what she had told me.

I first made a template to match her old board. Once I had the template completed, I then made her 4 new boards that were exactly like her old board, handmade from hard rock maple.

I shipped the boards to her and she loves them and they all fit into her silver platter perfectly! 🙂 So if you have an old board that needs repair or you need a replace board exactly the same size or wood, etc. I would be glad to make it for you!

Every kitchen needs a good cutting board or serving board!

Handmade Cutting Boards and Serving Boards

 

 

 

 

Blueberry Muffins

Everyone in our family loves Blueberry Muffins! So, anytime the family is together for breakfast or brunch we always include Blueberry Muffins. This recipe is very easy, they are great for breakfast, snacks or anytime. They are, without a doubt, the most amazing, the most perfect blueberry muffins I have ever eaten, you won’t want to stop eating them!

If you have the large muffin pans, this recipe will make 24 large muffins.

Recipe

4 eggs 1 box Duncan Hines white cake mix
1 small box of vanilla instant pudding
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup of fresh blueberries or more, frozen or can of blueberries pie filling drained and rinsed
* This recipe will makes 24 regular size muffins or 12 large muffins.

Preheat oven at 350

I always rinse the fresh blueberries, place on wax paper on a cookie sheet, pat with paper towel to remove and excess water. If the blueberries are not fresh, I place them in freezer for freezing, make sure they are frozen before making the mix. If you freeze the blueberries this will insure you don’t get the blueberry juices in the mix.

Beat the 4 eggs until lite, approx. 2 – 3 minutes depending on mixer.

Add all other ingredients except do not add the blueberries yet. Mix until blended, it’s important not to over mix.

Prepare muffin pan with paper liners.

I will fill the muffin papers half full of mix, then remove frozen blueberries and add by hand blueberries to the mix. Add more batter on top of the blueberries, then add more blueberries to the top of the mix. Now they are ready to put into the oven.

Bake at 350 for 20 – 22 minutes depending on oven.

I hope you enjoy the blueberry muffing recipe!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Michael

 

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cake

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Chocolate Chip Cake using a Tube Pan

Let me tell you that this chocolate chip cake has 14 ounces of chocolate!!  It is so moist and full of chocolate and so very easy to make. I have been making this cake for over 15 years and from the very first time I made it my children immediately said it was their favorite. They are now grown and it is still their favorite! I get request to make this cake from everyone I know because it is that good.

You can also make this cake using a bundt cake pan instead of a tube pan.

Chocolate Chip Cake using a Bundt Pan

I modified the original recipe many years ago so that I could use more chocolate and to make it really moist. In 2004 I won first place with the cake in a local baking contest.

Above are my ingredients. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees or 325 for confection oven.

Start by grating your semi-sweet chocolate squares, the picture above shows the remaining grating chocolate after mixing the batter. This grated chocolate will be used on top of the cake after baking.

Mix cake mix, pudding, oil and milk. Add eggs one at a time, beat throughly but be sure not to over beat. Stir in chocolate chips and all but 2/3 cups of grated chocolate.

Above is the batter after adding the grated semi-sweet chocolate. Once the cake batter is ready, pour into your prepared pan. You can bake this cake in either a bundt pan or tube pan. This time I used a tube pan but either will work fine. Be sure to prepare your pan with a good spray of Bakers Joy. If you miss this step you will not be able to remove the cake from the pan. Bake for about 50 – 55 minutes or until done depending on your oven.

After the cake has cooled approximately 10-12 minutes, I remove from the pan and then top with the remaining grated semi-sweet chocolate. Once the cake has completely cooled I dust with 10x sugar.

I almost didn’t get a picture of the cake after it was cut, it gets eaten so fast because it is sooo good!!

Give this recipe a try, I promise you will love it! Here is my recipe.

1 -box Duncan Hine Deluxe Yellow Cake Mix
1 – 3 oz box instant vanilla pudding
1 – cup cooking oil
1 – cup milk 2% or higher
4 large eggs
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate squares – grated
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

This is the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cake!

From my home to yours, I want to wish everyone 

a very Happy & Joyous Holiday Season!

Happy Baking!

Michael

Ultimate Southern Pound Cake

Other recipes

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