So I recently just finished a project here at Purple, Rock, Scissors. Web Design and Development Firm / Digital Agency in Orlando, FL.  It was the first time we were asked to provide a quick setup and a low cost solution for scalable web hosting.  Instantly, Amazon EC2 with Elastic Load Balancing came to mind.  I find that many IT professionals have a strange fear of "Cloud Hosting".  This isn’t all that uncommon though.  Many IT Pro’s fear the unknown and choose to bash it rather than embrace technological advances.  

Before anyone bashes me though for being an obsessed "fanboy", I do not always utilize AWS or other Cloud Providers.  While cloud hosting has many advantages, it is certainly not for everyone.  Every client has different needs and therefore AWS does not get recommended to all of them.  Most clients who request help with hosting still get directed into a traditional hosting plan with our favorite provider Peer1.  They have datacenters all over the US and have the flexibility to meet most of our clients’ needs.  It also gives the flexibility to upgrade / downgrade to meet the ever-changing needs of our clients.  

We actually used ourselves as a test case starting last year.  We run both our Zimbra mail server and our Drupal website on a single small instance for about $80 / month.  That is a pretty good pricepoint for the amount of use we get out of the server.  The only caveat to running mail on AWS is that they don’t provide reverse DNS entries, which means that you need to use a 3rd party SMTP service such as AuthSMTP.  For us, this works out to an additional $160 / year, which still makes it more economical at a total cost of $1120 / year.  This is roughly 20% of what we used to pay in a traditional hosting model.  Not only that, but should we need additional capacity, we can simply turn off our server, request the next largest size instance, and be up and running again in under 20 minutes.  

However, in our use…we are using a single Amazon EC2 small instance.  Setting up a load balanced environment is a whole different ballgame that we got to experience.  Let’s dive in and look at setting up a sucessful load balanced environment utilitizing Amazon Web Services. 

Step 1

First, go ahead and sign up for an account at http://aws.amazon.com.  If you already have an Amazon account for buying things on Amazon, the same exact account can be used…you just need to enable web services.  Once you have that set up, go ahead and grab your X.509 certificate, Access Key and Secret Access key from the "Security Credentials" section of your account. 

Step 2

There are many admin panels available for Amazon.  I recommend using the AWS Management Console in EC2 mode.  This is available directly from the AWS site.  If you only need basic EC2 functionality, you can download ElasticFox for managing EC2 and S3Fox for managing S3 buckets directly from Firefox. I still recommend the Amazon panel though, as you can log into the interface without special Firefox plugins.

Once you are in the admin panel, you will see an interface similar to this:

The image above shows off the AWS Admin Panel.  It gives us a heads up display of all the things that are currently in use in our account.  Let’s take a few mins to explain each of the sidebar elements:

• Instances
  An instance is an amazon machine image or "AMI" which has some current runstate.  It could be Pending Deployment, Running, Shut Down, Restarting, or Terminated.  EC2 instances come in many different sizes, the smallest of which costs 8.5 cents / compute hour (Essentially $61.20 / month for a constant duty machine based on 24 hrs / day for 30 days).  Reserved instances may also be purchased for a lower cost.  This reduces the hourly rate to roughly 3-3.5 cents / compute hour with a $300 up front commitment.  Most of the lower instances will be created with a 15 GB hard drive by default.  You can increase or decrease the size of the main volume during setup.
   
• Spot Instances
  A spot instance is an on demand instance for which you pay minimally based on the fact that they are limited to availability. 
   
• AMIs
  An AMI or Amazon Machine Instance is a bundled image which can be selected under the instance panel for deployment.  If you have ever used VMWare, think of this like a virtual machine which is in the off state, except you can start up many instances of a single AMI.
   
• Bundle Tasks
  This panel does not get used as much as it used to.  When you are creating a custom AMI of an image with a local storage drive built into it, this panel will show you if you have a running bundle task against that instance.
   
• Volumes
  Over the past year, Amazon has move away from using local storage within the instance.  Now they allow you to use an elastic block store "EBS" volume and attach it to an AMI.  You can also attach additional EBS volumes to an instance for additional storage.  A volume though can only be attached to a single instance at once.
   
•  Snapshots
  A snapshot is similar to snapshotting within VMWare.  It allows you to choose a moment in time and backup the entire contents of a volume.  This can be used to run manual backups, but it is also a natural part of creating a custom AMI of a running instance.  During the snapshot process for custom AMI’s the instance is shut down, the hard drive is snapshotted and bundled with the bootstrap data required to start an instance.
   
• Elastic IPs
  By default, instances are considered ephemeral. Restarting and bundling are the only two states through which your internal IP and external IP address will stay reserved to your instance.  If you terminate an instance, it’s IP address is thrown back into a pool and you are assigned a new one.  If you don’t want to lose your IP and be stuck updating DNS records (assuming you are using the server in a production environment), you can purchase an elastic IP which will ensure that you are always guaranteed the same IP…you even have the ability to assign it to a different AMI.
   
• Security Groups
  By default, all ports are closed.  To get around this, you must create a security group which has all the appropriate ports opened so that you can access appropriate services on your server.  For example, a linux server should (at minimum) have port 22 open or whatever port you decide to run SSH on.  It would probably have port 80 open for serving up http requests.
   
• Key Pairs
  A keypair is used during the bootstrapping of your instance.  When it starts up, password authentication will always be turned off by default.  This means that you need to have a key on file in the system so that you can use it to login to your instance once it is fully deployed.
   
• Load Balancers
  One of the great features of AWS, is that it provides what Amazon calls an "Elastic Load Balancer".  ELB’s are easy to set up and work similar to traditional load balancers.  There are custom health checks which can be altered on the fly and they allow you to specify a page to access which will determine if the load balance server is healthy.  I usually create an index.html page which just returns a 200 OK message to the Load Balancer.  Once an instance stops returning a response when the page is pinged, it will simply remove the instance from the load balancer queue.
   

Step 3
Now that you have a basic understanding of AWS, you can set up your first instance.  Try not to get too excited, but it is cool.  You will choose a base installation image.  Make sure you choose a good base image…once you have it up and running, you probably don’t want to start from scratch again .  I highly recommend the images produced by Eric Hammond of Alestic.  He makes great base images which are lean, so you can build them out however you want. 

Once you have chosen the image, the Amazon EC2 interface has a wizard to lead you through the process of launching for your first EC2 image.  Once you start the launch process, it will take 2-3 minutes to provision the server.  You can monitor the progress from the Amazon Web Services admin panel.  For the initial connection, you will need to use the public IP assigned to your server along with the pem key that you created during your account signup process.

Step 4

Once you have your image built exactly the way you want, it is important to snapshot the Volume as a backup.  This will create a bundled instance.  During this process the system will go down for bundling.  Once finished, your server will restart and be ready for use.

Now that you have your initial server, now comes the fun part!  Unfortunately…I don’t have time to write about it right now .  Next time I will discuss the process and caveats to setting up an Amazon Elastic Load Balancer.  Stay tuned…

Since I haven’t posted on my cultural side in a while, I thought I should take some time to get everyone up to date. I have been rather busy with personal endeavors, so I haven’t had a lot of time to keep my blog up to date, but I figured it was time. Let’s start on my pick of the week for eating out.

Nestled alongside all the hustle and bustle of I-drive (International Drive for those folks not from Orlando) is a great area of town called Dr. Phillips located on Sand Lake Road. To outsiders, it is often seen as non-existent or looks ‘expensive’. However, it is possible to eat on a budget at higher end restaurants.

One such restaurant which I love is "J. Alexanders". Originally a mid-western chain, J Alexanders offers a myriad of traditional American fare with southern and french influences.

At first glance, J. Alexanders exudes a lofty feel. It is softly lit at night, has spacious booths and has an asian-influence to the decor giving it a balanced and calm mood. It is a great place to bring friends for a quiet dinner to enjoy good food and wine.

While their prices are reasonable, 10-15 for many entrees, their service is probably at a 4.5 star range. If you order a bottle of wine, they will bring it over, uncork, pour you a sample and await your response as to whether you wish to purchase or not. Drinks are always refilled at or before the 50% mark. Every waiter / waitress has a crumb scrape handy as well as a napkin to clear any spills or sweat from your glass from the table. While these things seem like inherent behavior, see how many restaurants actually do them on a consistent basis. That is what sets J. Alexanders apart. If the restaurant manages to do it without you even noticing…it only enhances the experience.

There are many great choices, but my favorite is the veggie burger with israeli couscous. It may seem like a ‘mediocre choice’, but J. Alexanders makes their burger from scratch with brown rice, carrots, black beans, and a mix of brown sugar and mustard for a truly unique taste.

I usually finish with their Crème brûlée, expertly garnished with marscapone, fresh seasonal berries and mint. A great wine pairing is the EOS Late Harvest Moscato Paso Robles, a dessert wine made from raisinated grapes producing an aromatic, sweet wine.

Whether you go to J. Alexanders just for desert…or for a full meal, I guarantee you will have a great experience and (depending on what you have) not break the bank.

If you want to learn more about J. Alexanders, make sure you visit their website at: http://www.jalexanders.com/

Bon Apetit!

With my roots in Systems Administration, Disaster Recovery or "DR" is a subject near and dear to my heart. However, I find that most people discount the importance of having a solid plan of what to do if the unexpected occurs.

When a person has a valuable asset, they never hesitate to insure it "just in case". Yet with a website, which has inherent value and revenue potenial, the idea of insuring their site "just in case" never comes to mind. Unfortunately, it only takes a single mistake to wish that you had a DR plan. Many people will say, "We have a DR plan! What do you think those backups are for?" Unfortunately, having backups is not a DR plan. It is simply one of the counter measures that may come in handy when recovering from a disaster.

Let’s take a look at several scenarios when planning for DR:

Data Center

When choosing a hosting provider, always make sure that you have had the opportunity to review their data center locations. Ask about security, age of the facility, power redundancy, bandwidth provider and the address of the facility. It also never hurts to ask if you could take a tour of the facility. It is not so much that you are going to hop on a plane and visit, but if they deny the request entirely, you may want to keep shopping. This could be a sign of issues that they are trying to hide. Usually a claim of SOX / PCI Compliance and umbrella insurance documentation is enough to get a tour. It is not uncommon to require pictures of the location that is physically housing your server.

Mother Nature

So, Hurricane Jane just passed over your data center, leaving a rather sizeable hole in the ceiling.

Never underestimate the power of a storm. While this is more of a concern for your service provider, the end result is the same. If the hole is right above your server rack and water has penetrated your rack and hardware, your server will most likely be out of commission. If someone does not have a contingency plan for how the site will get up and running again, you may be out of business until services can be transferred to another data center or another server nearby. Hint: If your data center is located at the foot of an active volcano, in the most active segment of "tornado alley" or below sea level, you may want to put a little extra effort into your DR Plan (and consider moving).

Theft

John Doe, systems administrator extraordinaire, is doing routine maintenance in your rack. While he is taking his lunch break, he leaves the door open to your rack.

What would you do if someone stole a hard drive containing your entire customer database? While this does not happen every day…nothing in a Disaster Recovery plan does. Competition can be fierce…are YOU located in the same data center as your competitor? Physical theft of components not only means you need to replace the component (hard drive, SAN, backup device), but you also need to replace the data and find out who may have stole it in the first place.

Another reason to consider theft when planning is due to the location of most data centers. Some of the best Tier 1 provider data centers are located in the "bad parts of town" so to speak. Hosting requires 3 things: Space, Bandwidth, and Power. The cheaper the space, the higher their profit margin. Looking for places which have a nice balance between crime rate and the level of security of the facility are always worthwhile choices to house your data.

Also remember, if you are going to manage your own rack…do you want to get a call at 3 am and have to head to a high-crime area? You are now not only responsible for your equipment safety, but your own personal safety as well.

Power Outages

After a thunder storm, the main transformer leading into your data center is ‘fried’.

How redundant are the power sources in your data center? The best choice in a data center is one that provides redundant generators. Thus in the case of a power outage, your site will remain online during the repair to the data center.

Bandwidth Outages

During some routine upgrades, the main router for bandwidth control into your data center loses its configuration.

This is one that many people don’t think of. Does your data center provide you with redudant bandwidth sources? If their router is down, your site could end up down for hours while they restore the configuration.

Systems Administrators

John Doe, the systems administrator, runs updates on your server and performs a restart without authorization.

Did John discuss the update with your application team? Could one of these updates break the site? Perhaps your site requires configuration after a restart to fully configure a shared folder or other service you do not want started automatically. Regardless of the situation, John most likely took down your site. A proper DR plan accounts for situations like this which may not be apparent at first glance.

Application Support Team

Jane, one of your application developers, pushes an update to your site before headed out for the day. Having had a rough day, Jane turns off her phone and goes to bed early.

If Jane did not ensure that the update worked properly, the site could be down and no one knows it yet. Jane in particular, as she turned off her phone. This problem may persist until she makes it to work the next day.

This can usually be taken care of with an escalation system of some sort. In it’s simplest sense, it is a list of people to call in a hierarchical order. The more complex involves a system which allows a user to log a ticket and the system escalates the request automatically. Having proper procedures in place for application deployment can certainly help to alleviate this situation, but accidents do happen.

Novice User

Jake, a new user to your Content Management system, is asked to perform a cleanup task on some of the old articles.

This could end poorly for Jake and his boss. If Jake accidentally deletes articles or pages he was not supposed to, how will this content be retrieved? Having appropriate backups of the database will certainly help in a situation like this. With a proper DR plan, Jake can simply call the appropriate person and the backups may even be restored before his boss finds out! This is good news for Jake and for the site as well.

Equipment Age

In an attempt to save money, John’s widgets puts his website up on a server with 5 year old hard drives. After a successful launch to their brand new website, their main hard drive fails bringing their online sales to a halt.

For anyone that doesn’t know, a hard drive’s life is measured using what is called “Mean-Time-To-Failure” or MTTF. It isn’t a matter of “IF”, it is a matter of “WHEN” the drive will fail. Their failure rates are normally within the first 3-4 months or 6-7 years. The 3-4 month range is due to design flaws and the 6-7 year is the life expectancy of the drive. Hard drives are devices which wear out and should be part of a cyclic hardware refresh program. Every year, a company who purchases and manages their own hardware should plan a portion of the budget to phase out old hard drives, upgrade ram and even upgrade servers over time. By replacing this equipment in a timely manner, a company can prevent server failures due to failing equipment.

Facilities

After a business in an adjacent office leaves a candle burning overnight, a fire spreads throughout the office complex burning all documents, equipment and leaving the widget of John’s widgets in shambles

While a DR plan should cover your servers, it should also cover disasters which may occur at your office locale as well. If your office building burned, was flooded or was closed due to an environmental contaminant…what happens? Does everyone have the rest of the month off while the office is repaired? In a good DR plan, there are clauses covering “continuing operations”. So all employees should know what happens if a disaster were to happen in the office building.

If something were to happen to an office building, the DR plan should lead a CEO / CIO to everything needed to restore operations as soon as possible. Situations such as unexpected equipment damage are why a “complete DR plan” will also include copies of all insurance policies, documentation of assets (all serial numbers with dates of purchase) and a plan to obtain replacement assets as soon as possible. It may also include a rendezvous point for any emergency meeting which may arise from a facility disaster.

Is that it?

Depending on your business domain, you may find that you have more issues to worry about than this. The best way to put together a DR plan is to have a brainstorm session with a diverse group from your company. At least one person from each department should chime in on what issues they can foresee. Once you’ve compiled issues like the examples above, appropriate counter-measures have to be planned for. This is where the actual plan may take the form of a dialog or flow-chart to handle any issues which may arise, in the appropriate manner.

Once a DR plan is made, it should be distributed to all employees or hosted in a location where everyone has access. An offsite copy should also be kept in case the digital version is destroyed.

Conclusions

Now you may be thinking, “Isn’t this a little excessive?” This sounds like a large investment of time and money! This is, in fact, true. A DR plan is a huge investment in protecting your company from the unforeseen. However, if your website goes down and all you have is ‘backups’, how long will it take you to get that site back up and running? Do you know what schedule the backups run on? Do you have hardware to replace the dead server or stolen equipment? Is your sole sysadmin on vacation for the next two weeks in Orlando? If your site goes down for even just a few hours, people lose faith in your brand. Particularly if you are in the IT industry in any shape or form. If you can’t keep your own equipment running, many people may doubt your ability to keep their equipment running properly as well.

So the answer to excessiveness: How much is your brand worth to you?

So, tell me what is wrong with this scenario:

John’s Widgets goes to Purple, Rock, Scissors. for a web site.  After several discovery meetings, a statement of work is written and, in turn, approved by John.  Purple, Rock, Scissors. provides several comps, John approves and work begins.  Six to nine weeks later, John’s widgets has a beautiful website which he absolutely loves and he is ready to go live.  John is ecstatic, he can’t wait…he asks when can the world see his website?

Many web development firms do not take the time to help their clients choose appropriate hosting.  From that perspective, the answer to the conundrum above puts all the responsibility for hosting on John’s widgets.  Does he have web hosting?  Did he ever ensure that the framework or CMS that his Orlando web development firm, Purple, Rock, Scissors used will function on his current hosting provider?  Honestly…most clients don’t really care about hosting.  They want to see their shiny new website, but honestly, they could care less what is happening behind the scenes.  Web hosting, for many clients, is an afterthought.  In reality though, the web application determines what kind of hosting is needed.  Your hosting environment should never define or limit what your application can do.  If John’s Widgets has an inappropriate host or he has no hosting at all, it could be 3-6 weeks including testing to get his site ready for an official live deployment. 

Here at Purple, Rock, Scissors., we never let you go it alone.  From the beginning, our statement of work will always include time allotted in the development schedule for providing hosting recommendations, giving you time to choose a host, and then if you prefer…we’ll take care of the rest.  We’ll guide you through the process of purchasing the server and we set up and configure your server to the exact specifications we require to make your application perform at peak performance.  Knowing the host up front helps us to develop your application so that it will function properly on the chosen environment.

You may be asking, what about my application determines what kind of hosting I need?  Well, this question is actually quite complex…there are many different factors that come into play, so lets take a look at the most important factors.

Estimated Traffic / Bandwidth Utilization – The amount of traffic your site is expected to see can play a large part in your hosting solution.  Many low-end web hosting providers (ie: $200 for 2 years of hosting) impose bandwidth limits on their clients.  You certainly do NOT want to see your site go down 3 days into its launch because you’ve already exceeded your bandwidth for the month, do you?  That is always an embarassing situation and it could take days to sort the situation out with your hosting provider.  We’ll call that the "Failure to Launch" scenario.  Having a good idea of how much bandwidth you utilize may not be a number in the back of your head that you just keep handy when people ask.  We’ll help you to understand what your current traffic patterns / bandwdith utilization are and how they will mesh with different types of hosting providers.

Content Format – Content format is certainly a consideration when choosing a web hosting provider.  Are you planning on hosting video on your site?  Perhaps you should think again.  Hosting videos on your site can quickly eat up even a Terrabyte of allotted bandwidth per month.  Each person that streams your video could be using 60 – 120 MB of bandwidth per view.  Take a look at the average video on YouTube.  If the video is good, it might see 100,000 hits.  To set this in perspective, a 120 MB video viewed 100,000 times can be equivalent to almost 12 terabytes of bandwidth utilization.  Depending on the popularity of your content and target audience, this may not be an issue for you…but it should certainly be considered.

Content Generators – Are you the only person generating content?  Is your site entirely dependent on it’s user-base to generate content?  If you are in complete control of your content, then you have a little less to worry about.  However, the minute you allow users to post their own content…you could develop a fairly large user-base posting content regularly.  These users could lead to increased bandwidth and CPU utilization on the chosen server.

Virality – Anyone who has ever forwarded a YouTube link or a funny email knows what virality is…whether they know it or not.  Viral websites are those sites or pieces of content which are extremely popular and spread by word of mouth…almost like an epidemic.  Viral content is certainly nothing to scoff at.  Most people who create this content tend to get a much-deserved (sometimes undeserved) 15 minutes of fame and will almost certainly go down in the internet history books.  However, hosting content which has the potential for millions of views, is certainly not easy.  It is extremely taxing on a server to support a large number of requests in a short period of time.  Bandwidth utilization also comes into play, as the host who is chosen may not be able to offer you the bandwidth you require…or they will offer it at an undesireable price.

Application Framework – Sometimes in an effort to shorten application development time (and cost), a rapid development framework or Content Management System (CMS) is utilized.  Purple, Rock, Scissors is a PHP web development firm, thus many of the frameworks we utilize require special PHP plugins or require us to set up special libraries that make our code function as expected.  These requirements cannot always be met with certain web hosts.

Mail – Most applications need to send emails…even if you are not running an email server.  Most sites send emails to users for password resets, user signups, and general newsletters.  Many hosts, particularly low-end hosting providers have issues sending email reliably.  This can be a dead-end issue with some hosting providers and usually leads to additional costs as the client site has to be migrated to a new server solution.

OK, so we’ve taken a look at what factors we need to consider with the application content and application design.  Now let ‘s see what we need to look for in our hosting provider, depending on application requirements.

Normal Bandwidth Framework-based Applications

If your application is hosting mostly text-based content, you can probably suffice with a lower-end hosting solution to help cut costs.  Many of these applications host fine on a Virtual Private Server.  There are caveats to this though, as many VPS providers do not offer "Managed Hosting".  It all depends on your application and how often changes will need to be made to the server.  In most cases, the application is self-sufficient and requires very little in the way of server management.  Some applications can even be hosted in a shared hosting environment…although we traditionally do not recommend it.  When you start sharing your server with other people, even though your content is separate and safe from other clients on the server, mail delivery can be an issue.  Many shared hosting providers utilize dynamic SMTP (mail sending) servers which have already been blacklisted as spammers.  Therefore, even though you have legitimate email to send to a client, your client’s mail provider may not accept emails sent from these providers.  In some cases, this may bring your application to its knees as people can’t sign up unless they receive a verification email.

Intermediate Bandwidth / Framework-based Applications

If your application is based on a framework and it requires a predictable amount of bandwidth, we usually recommend a private managed physical server.  We have found that Peer1 provides reliable hosting packages in the $250 / month range with backups.  This way you can be assured that your data is always safe and that your application will be looked after.  They provide 1 Terabyte -> Unlimited bandwidth packages, a la carte upgrades for your server (such as RAM) or hard drive space and an upgrade path so that as your application grows, they can grow with you to meet your needs.  These hosting providers never have issues with mail and we are allowed to install whatever requirements we need to make your application function properly.  This is a great mid-grade solution that can grow with you and is our hosting of choice for even an average web application.

High Bandwidth/Traffic  CMS/Framework Applications

Let’s say your application is vastly popular already and you are looking to upgrade.  Perhaps you just KNOW that your application is going to be viral.  We normally recommend Cloud computing solutions such as RightScale to provide on-demand scalability so your application never goes down…no matter how much traffic you get.  The great part about cloud computing is that your application will scale back to conserve costs when less visitors are on the site.  You essentially only pay for the computing power you need on a day-by-day basis.  Since most applications of this nature make more revenue as the number of visitors to the site increases, the increased and (somewhat unpredictable) cost of hosting is cancelled out.  There is a base cost that you will pay to maintain the environment, but you only pay for usage spikes as they occur.  While RightScale is a great solution, it does have some caveats such as SMTP (mail sending) issues.  As Amazon Web Services provides the actual "virtual" servers, they do not support the necessary reverseDNS pointer record which is required for most recipients to accept your incoming mail.  I’m not going to go in detail here, I’ll cover that in a future post…but regardless running any mail delivery application on an Amazon Machine Instance (virtual server) requires additional third-party SMTP services from a company such as AuthSMTP.  Depending on mail volume, this COULD make or break this solution for some clients.

As odd as it sounds, the earlier we know the hosting, the better.  Many people just assume that hosting is an afterthought, as it is one of the last steps in the application delivery process and that we can call and activate at any time.  Sometimes hosting contracts can take weeks to get things squared away, purchase and have the server provisioned, and set up with our requirements.  Not to mention, if we realize as an afterthought that the application needs to be hosted with RightScale or another cloud computing solution for on-demand scalability, many changes need to be made to the application to make it function properly in a load-balanced cloud computing environment.  These changes could potentially set back deployment by weeks.

I bet you never realized just how much goes into choosing an appropriate hosting provider, did you?  It is a long and arduous process to match an application with appropriate hosting. However, Purple, Rock, Scissors aspires to get you into a hosting solution which gives your web application room to grow without overpaying for processing power you may never use.  Once we have discussed your application and have a final set of features, a good idea of what your traffic patterns will look like, then we can make appropriate recommendations for your web hosting.  By being proactive, we can deliver your application when you are ready without hesitation.  This is actually just a quick glance at hosting and how it can affect project delivery times, and application development requirements. 

When you’re ready to take your web application to the next level, Purple, Rock, Scissors. is here to help!

So…I’ve been pre-occupied for the past month or so with buying a house, so I really haven’t been cooking as much as I used to.  While I love a good desert or homemade meal, when I’m busy…a little something on the grill (even a hotdog or hamburger) certainly cuts it for a quick meal.  However, I decided to take the time to start a "Restaurant of the Week" column, as I do love to go out to eat, as well as cook my own meals.

On that note, I thought I would recognize some of my favorite places that I feel really do not get the attention they deserve.  To start out the column, I’d love to recognize Bavarian Restaurant Bar & Grill.  

Located on 300 South Hwy 17-92, Longwood FL, the name and building may turn off some people at first.  Apparently the building used to be a Hardy’s Burgers or similar establishment…explaining the random drive through window which is unused and the name is appropriate, but certainly does not do their restaurant justice.  The environment is laid back with a friendly owner, cook and waitstaff who are some of the nicest people you will ever meet when you take the time to chat.  Owned by a husband and wife team from european backgrounds, they are celebrating 38 years of love for eachother and great cuisine.  For anyone who knows the secrets to great cooking, you know that this will lead to a truly unforgettable dining experience.  

The menu is filled with a host of german wine and beer, succulent deserts and some of the best german / european food you will ever have.  Their menu has entire pages devoted to 30 or so types of Schnitzel, a myriad of sausages, rouladen, goulash, beef stroganoff and even a steak au poivre…my dish of choice for the evening.  Traditionally, Steak Au Poivre, in my humble opinion, should be made with an 8-10 oz filet mignon, but they were serving it on a 10 oz sirloin.  A minor detail, as I enjoy a good cut of sirloin as well.  And in the end…it was a very minor detail.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a sirloin which was quite that tender, nor have I had an Au Poivre sauce that rich in my life.  Not to mention, at a price point of $17 with two sides, as opposed to a Filet Au Poivre in the 30-50 range…it was quite the bargain.  Just remember, if you like your steak medium, order an Au Poivre-style steak medium rare or rare, as the sauce that is on top of the steak is extremely hot when it is poured on top of your steak.  It will cook your steak at least half to a full level of ‘doneness’ on its way to the table.

Most dishes come in around the $13-20 range, so it is certainly not the cheapest meal…especially with a good glass of wine and desert, but it is certainly worth every penny.  It is also not a quick meal, so be prepared to invest an hour or more into a full dining experience.  As their sign says as you walk in, "Good food takes time, as we prepare everything from fresh ingredients to order, please pardon any delays".  The last time I went, we went as a party of 20 and basically took over the entire restaurant.  While Chris (the chef) was more than willing to oblige in cooking, he would not dare sacrifice the quality of any persons meal.  From start to finish, it took us about three hours…but as I said, their food is certainly worth the wait.  Oh, and don’t forget to try the Schnitzel as well…old germany style is a ‘to die for’ dish as well!

So, if you ever happen to be in northern central Florida and have an undying urge for good german food, bring an empty stomach and enjoy the company and food at Bavarian Restaurant Bar & Grill!

• Location: 300 South Hwy 17-92  Longwood, FL 32750
• Phone: 407-332-7029
• Website: http://bavarianrestaurantbarandgrill.com
• Hours: closed Mondays, Tuesday-Sunday: Lunch – 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Dinner: 4:30 p.m.- 9:30 p.m.
• Price:  Lunch ($9-15), Dinner ($15-25)
• Reservations requested for large parties

I hope you enjoy and stay tuned for the next restaurant review!

~Chris

Again…this week I am spicing up a recipe right from the back of a pre-packaged product.  As surprising as it may be, the recipes that companies put on the back of their packaging are actually quite good.  Today, I decided to feature the M & M Rainbow Blondies recipe which is found on their 12 oz mini baking bits package.  The great thing about these recipes is that with a few minor alterations, you can make just about any type of blondie you want.  I almost forgot that some of you may not know what a blondie is.  In the simplest sense…it is just a brownie without the cocoa.  Let’s get down to the basics:

Ingredients:

• 1 C (2 sticks) butter or margerine
• 1 1/2 C firmly packed light brown sugar (My Recommendation: Use 1 C of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, 2 Tbsp. of molasses)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (My Recommendation: Use 1 1/2 tsp. for more flavor)
• 2 C All purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 12-oz (1 3/4 C) M & M baking bits

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  I recommend substituting the 1/2 C of granulated sugar and ~2 Tbsp of molasses to taste.  This way you can make it sweeter / less sweet depending on your personal tastes.  Remember, sugar and molasses mixed gives you brown sugar.  So if you are out completely, you can always make your own!  Remember, when creaming, you want your butter to be semi-soft.  I usually recommend microwaving refrigerated butter for about 30-45 secs to reach the right consistency.
3. Mix in the egg and vanilla extract.  Again, feel free to adjust the vanilla to your own personal tastes.  I personally like a little extra on the vanilla and a little less on the brown sugar.
4. Sift or otherwise mix baking soda and flour together.  Remember that your baking soda acts as a slight leavening agent, so make sure it is evenly dispersed throughout the flour.  Otherwise you’ll end up with very dense blondies which rise uneven.
5. Once your flour and baking soda are mixed, turn your mixer down to low and slowly add it into the sugar / butter mixture.
6. When your flour is fully integrated, mix for another 30 seconds and get your mix-ins ready to pour in.  Give the M&M’s a whirl first.  They do make a very tasty dessert.  However, once you grow bored with M&Ms try dark chocolate chips and dried cranberries for a more mature taste.  For the real sweet tooth, try using butterscotch chips or perhaps crushed butterfinger or heath bar.  Another great choice is crushed oreos.
7. Don’t be worried when you see it.  This dough is going to be extremely thick.  There is nothing wrong…you’re doing great if it came out stiff.
8. Turn off your mixer and get your pan prepped.  The original recipe calls for a 13×9 baking pan, but I find that this makes harder "crispier" blondies.  I prefer to have fudgier blondies, so I went with an 8×8 pan.
9. No matter what pan size you choose, cut a square (or rectangle) of parchment.  Spray a non-stick cooking spray on the pan, then place the parchment in the bottom.  The non-stick cooking spray will help to hold the parchment flat and allow you to spread the brownie dough around the pan a little easier.
10. After you get the dough evenly spread in the pan, place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.  You may be asking, "Why the large range?"  Well, if you go with a 13×9 baking pan, your cook time will be about 32ish minutes, depending on both altitude and your oven.  Since I used an 8×8 pan, my blondies were twice as thick, so I cooked a little longer.
11. If you find that your blondies don’t seem quite done on the inside, but the outside is getting golden brown, try taking them out of the oven for a few minutes to cool, lower the temperature of the oven and place in for another 3-5 minutes.  Another technique is to just turn off the oven about 5 minutes before baking is complete and just leave them in the cooling oven for 10 minutes or so.  These techniques are hit or miss though.  I took the blondies out probably 2-3 times to check on them during the last 5-7 minutes of cooking, so the cook time is definitely approximate.
12. Once you have them out of the oven, let them cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes.  The blondies will shrink away from the edges of the pan, making them even easier to get out of the pan.  I recommend placing a wire rack over the pan and inverting the blondies upside down onto the rack.  Let them continue to cool.  Don’t bother taking the parchment off the bottom either…this comes in handy to keep your blondies from sticking to the plate you use.
13. After completely cooling, place a flat cookie sheet over the wire rack and invert the blondies again.  This allows you to cut the cookies on a nice flat surface without holes in it.
14. Once cut, use two large spatulas to transfer the cookies (still on the parchment) onto your serving dish.  At first it might sound like a lot of steps to plate them, but this method allows you to easily get the blondies out of the pan, cut them cleanly and then serve them without losing the shape you baked them in.

No matter how you choose to personalize this recipe, I guarantee these blondies will be a hit and a nice break from traditional brownies!

So…this recipe is actually adapted from the back of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips bag, but I like to try my own little twists on it.  That is probably my favorite part about cooking.  You never have to settle for something that isn’t quite what you want.  You have the freedom to mix it up and try just about anything.  Above all else, this recipe is a good starter dough for any chocolate cookie, so you can manipulate it any way you want.

Ingredients:

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 3/4 C Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 C butter (2.5 sticks) softened
• 2 C sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 2/3 C Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
3. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with a mixer until fluffy.
4. Add eggs (one at a time) and mix.
5. Add vanilla.  NOTE: For an interesting twist, use 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extract.  This gives your cookies a little character and gives them a cherry-like taste (but not overpowering).
6. Beat the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla (and possibly almond extract) well.
7. Slowly add your flour mixture.  Key word there was "Slowly".  It really doesn’t affect taste, but if you add it all at once I guarantee you will have cocoa powder EVERYWHERE!
8. Now comes the fun part!  Add your choice of chips.  For mine, I prefer to split up the 1 2/3 cups into peanut butter, white chocolate and dark chocolate chips.  It tastes great and gives your cookies something just a hair more unique.  Another interesting experiment is to just use dark chocolate chips and add chopped up candied or maraschino cherries and make a "Black Forest" cookie. This would be a great time to use the almond extract for that extra "cherry taste".
9. Take a cookie sheet and line with parchment.  NOTE: As I’ve said before, parchment is NOT wax paper and it is well worth every penny you pay for it.  You will have a perfect batch of cookies every time.  The only thing I would use (if you have one) is a silicone baking mat, but these are usually over-priced.
10. Decide on a size and then use a correctly sized measuring device.  I personally like BIG cookies, so I use an ice cream scoop.  It usually gives enough room for 6-8 cookies per sheet, assuming 1.5" arround each doughball so it doesn’t hurt the shape of the other cookies.
11. Bake for 8-9 minutes (depending on what is in them…I recommend longer, possibly 10 if you have a lot of chocolate in them).  When done, the cookies will be soft.  This is, in fact, normal.  Simply leave the cookies to cool on the sheet, or move to a cooling rack or countertop.  NOTE: These cookies tend to be REALLY soft if you only bake 8ish minutes.  I recommend cooling completely on the parchment uncovered overnight.  This will help solidify the cookie and keep them from breaking apart too much.

Anyways…this is a short, but sweet recipe.  Tell me what you think…especially if you try out the "black forest" idea I proposed above.

Ok, so fried rice…why make it when you can buy it from the local Chinese Restaurant? Well, I know I won’t convince all of you to try this, but sometimes you just have a craving for quick chinese and the restaurant down the street is closed. I personally like to do it because it is such a versatile dish. If you add some protein to it, suddenly you have the making of a full meal. Honestly, I was looking to experiment and whipped this up tonight for dinner. I always thought there was some secret to it. However, I went to Kobe Steakhouse one night for dinner and watched the teppan chef make fried rice in a matter of minutes for the whole table and realized just how easy of a dish it could be.

Ok, so fried rice…why make it when you can buy it from the local Chinese Restaurant? Well, I know I won’t convince all of you to try this, but sometimes you just have a craving for quick chinese and the restaurant down the street is closed. I personally like to do it because it is such a versatile dish. If you add some protein to it, suddenly you have the making of a full meal. Honestly, I was looking to experiment and whipped this up tonight for dinner. I always thought there was some secret to it. However, I went to Kobe Steakhouse one night for dinner and watched the teppan chef make fried rice in a matter of minutes for the whole table and realized just how easy of a dish it could be.

Ingredients

• 1 C jasmine rice (steamed) – Yields about 3 cups total
• 1/2 C cubed fresh or thawed carrots
• 2/3 C frozen peas (keep frozen)
• 2 large eggs
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil or sesame oil
• 1 shallot minced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 green onion sliced up thinly
• 1/2 tsp. Gourmet Garden ginger spice blend
• 1/2 tsp. Gourmet Garden lemon grass herb blend
• 1/4 C low sodium soy sauce
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

Ok, so there really is no secret to fried rice. Lets get right in to our steps.

1. As it says in the ingredients, prepare 1 cup of Jasmine rice. For those folks who have trouble, rice is quite simple. Boil ~1.5 cups of water to a FULL boil in a 2 Qt sauce pan, add 1 cup of jasmine rice. Stir, cover, and lower temperature to low (about 1.5 on a 10 level stove). Set a timer for about 10 minutes and DO NOT UNCOVER THE RICE! Simply let it steam for 10 minutes…about this time, the condensation on the lid should be minimal. Take the cover off and stir with a spatula. Throw the cover back on and steam another few minutes. This will make a nice dry rice and it won’t all stick together. When done…place in a bowl and set aside.
2. Add 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil or other vegetable oil to a 9″ (preferably 12″) skillet. Add frozen peas, thawed or fresh carrots, shallot, garlic, green onion, lemon grass and ginger to a pan on medium high heat and saute for 3-5 minutes. One thing about asian cooking, is that faster sometimes is better and hotter is sometimes better. I rarely recommend cooking fast, as it leads to mistakes, but it will actually make it taste more authentic. Once your veggies are golden brown, set aside in a bowl and add more oil to your pan.
3. By the way…you may have noticed I recommended a brand for ginger and lemon grass spice blends. This is not a hard requirement…you are welcome to use fresh ginger if you prefer…but for the amount of flavor we are trying to add to the dish, don’t go out of your way to find lemon grass if you can’t. Ginger is readily available usually near the peppers in the produce section. You will usually find the spice / herb blends in the same section and they come in squeeze tubes. If you can’t find them, buy a little fresh ginger and mince it up. It will taste just about the same.
4. Move your pan off to a cold burner and add two eggs. As your eggs are most likely cold, not doing this over medium-high heat will prevent splattering of hot oil all over the place. Start scrambling your eggs and get them back on medium heat until cooked through. Make sure you break up the egg into small pieces and add these to the bowl when they are cooked through.
5. Now take your prepared rice and add to the skillet over medium heat. Use a spatula to spread out the rice and constantly chop through the rice with the sharp side of the spatula to keep all the grains separate and fry slowly for 5 minutes. This will mostly dry the rice and you do not want the rice to brown that much. The soy sauce is what makes fried rice brown…not the frying .
6. After 5 minutes of frying, add the egg and vegetables back into the pan and turn up the heat a little to about 6. Mix the egg / vegetable mixture so it is evenly distributed through your rice and then season the rice with fresh ground black or white pepper.
7. Add soy sauce and continue to fold the rice in on itself until all of the rice is brown.
8. Cook an additional minute or so to make sure that the vegetables are heated through and then plate and serve.

As you can see, fried rice is quite simple. You can take this basic recipe and cook up some beef, pork or chicken to take your rice from a side dish to a quick and easy meal. Give it a whirl…once you make your own, you really won’t want the chinese restaurant’s dried out rice again!

Hmm, ok…maybe you’ve never heard of this one, but it is certainly worth a try.  This is a Spanish Potato Omelet which I know you’re gonna love.  It goes well with just about anything as it is from the class of spanish cuisine known as "tapas."  While the origin of the term varies, the word literally means "cover."  I like to think of it as meaning that it "covers" your appetite between lunch and dinner.  Tapas come in all shapes and sizes, from a full Paella (Seafood and rice stew – to put it quite simply) to queso de cabra (baked goat cheese served with a mild marinara on french bread) or even just dried meats like Chorizo – a spanish sausage.

Regardless of what you want to call them, a Tortilla Espanola makes a great breakfast, lunch or even an appetizer.  Now that we know a little bit about them, lets take a look at a basic recipe:

• 4 cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 1/2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/3-inch dice
• 2 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 10 large eggs

OK, so as you can see, the ingredient list is fairly short.  For this recipe, it is all about technique to make it come out just right.

1. Start with a dutch oven (2 qt) and add the 4 cups of olive oil and get that heating over medium-low heat (about 4 on your oven dials).  If you have one, sit a candy / deep fry thermometer on the side of the pan with the bulb of the thermometer immersed, but not touching the bottom or side of your pan.
2. Peel and use a mandolin (refer to Food Network if you don’t know what this is), use a slicing blade to get super-thin slices of potato.  After getting all the slices, cut in half and then cut in half the opposite direction.  When you are done, you should have hundreds of thin pizza-slice shaped potato slices.  Dry these and set aside.  Please Note: If you don’t have a mandolin, doing the slicing by hand is ok…it will just take a lot longer.
3. Slice up an onion into thin slices.  Cut these into four pieces as well.
4. Check the temperature of your oil.  For this process, we are NOT frying…so 300-350 degrees is not what you want.  We preferably want to boil the potato and onion in a hot oil bath at about 220 – 250 degrees.  If your oil is too hot, keep in mind that the oil will drop by about 10 degrees or more as you add the cold onion and potato.  You may be confused about this process…it kind of defies most of the laws of cooking.  Boiling something in oil?  It sounds weird, but it is not about cooking the potatoes and onions as much as it is about infusing the onion and olive oil flavor into the potatoes, it is subtle…but it separates an authentic tortilla espanola from some of the quicker recipes out there.  As Emeril would say, "This is a food of love thing."  In this case, he would be right.  The boiling process is what takes the bland potatoes and makes them into the
5. Slowly place handfuls of potato into the pan in a single layer.  Add salt and pepper to the oil.  Then place a thin layer of onion with a little more pepper and salt.  Keep repeating until all of the potato and onion is in the pan and pat with a rubber spatula so that all is submerged in the oil.  Don’t go heavy on the salt, as you will have salt between each of the 3-4 layers of potato and onion.
6. Check the temperature and make sure you keep the mixture in the 220-250 degree range and boil until the potatoes are still firm, but you can stick a fork through them.  The onions should be completely cooked.  This is a slow process, it could take up to 15 minutes, so go ahead and keep an eye on the boiling process, but go ahead and start preparing the eggs in the next step so that they are ready.
7. Add all ten eggs to a large bowl and whisk until fluffy.  Add a tiny bit more pepper and a pinch of salt again to this mixture.
8. Once your potato / onion mixture is done, grab another bowl and place a colander in it.  Carefully pour the onion, potato and oil mixture into the collander and shake to strain.
9. After removing most of the excess oil, slowly add small amounts of the potato mixture to the egg and stir.  A cup at a time would be preferable, stirring a few times between each cup of the potato.  Do NOT pour the potato mixture all in at once.  As your eggs are room temperature and your potato mixture is still at about 260 degrees, this will fry the egg.  Our purpose in slowly adding the mixture is to "temper" the egg without frying it.
10. Once all the potato is mixed, let the egg mixture sit for 5-10 minutes to set up while you heat a 8-9" skillet with a tablespoon of oil or so (not too much though…I’ll explain later).  This time you will want the temperature about 5-7 or medium heat.
11. Once your skillet is heated, slowly spoon the omlett mixture into the skillet and allow to cook slowly for about 7-10 minutes.
12. Use a spatula to see if the sides of the omlett are starting to brown.  When they do…we are no approaching the hardest part of making this dish.  Since it is a full-sized omlett about 1 to 1.5" thick, you cannot flip it with a spatula…you will have to use a dish to invert the omlett out of the pan.
13. Start by removing the skillet from the burner and placing a full-sized plate over it.
14. Next, firmly hold the plate against the pan, with your palm in the center of it.
15. In one brief motion, flip carefully but quickly so that the pan is now on top of the plate.  The omlett will now be upside down on the plate.  This is the tricky part.  Make sure you do this quickly and if there is a lot of oil in your pan, drain it off first, as the oil could burn you if you do not flip quickly enough.
16. Place the skillet back on the stove and add a tiny bit more oil to the pan.
17. Using the spatula, gently slide the half-set omlett back into the pan, so the unset top of the omlett is now face-down in the pan.
18. Continue to cook for 5 minutes (roughly).
19. To finish and fully set the omlett, repeat the flip process at least two more times.  Each time gets easier…don’t worry!
20. When the omlett is brown on both sides, place on a serving platter.
21. If you are having it for breakfast, serve warm.  If you are serving as an appetizer, cut into cubes and serve cold with a dry white wine.  I would probably serve with your favorite Pinot Grigio.  Avoid anything too fruity on the palate (like reislings) as it may overpower the subtle flavor of this traditional "Tapa".

The great part about this technique for making a full-sized omlett, is that you can make it with just about anything.  Try the potato one at least once though, as it is a remarkably simple, yet enjoyable dish.  If you are using a main ingredient that is less starchy though, make sure you do not boil in Olive Oil. This may sound a little bizarre at first glance, but I love to make mine sweet and spicy.

• 1 Shallot Minced
• 1 Medium Tart Apple (1/2 small cube, 1/2 minced or jullienne if you prefer)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup of celery
• salt / pepper to taste
• 3-4 eggs
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
• thin slices of 2 sun-dried tomatoes (olive oil packed)
• Your favorite (sweeter) hot sauce (to taste)

1. Add the apple with celery and shallot to a 6-7" skillet over medium-low heat 3-4 with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Add salt / pepper to taste.
2. TIP: You may be wondering what variety to use.  I used to work at an apple orchard, so I am a little biased to using traditional cooking varieties like Macoun, Cortland or Ida Red.  However I occasionally mix it up with a slightly sweeter variety like Crispins (or Mutsu as the japanese would call them).  As I live in Florida now, and my choice of "good" apples is pretty limited, I usually use granny smith.
3. Slowly sweat this mixture (cook slowly without browning anything) until the apples are cooked and the celery / shallot is translucent.  About half-way through the cooking process, add the sundried tomatoes and continue stiring the mixture occasionally for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Next take a 2 cup glass measuring cup or a small bowl and whisk the 3-4 eggs together with the cheese and an additional pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper.
5. TIP: Why a two cup glass measuring cup?  Honestly, it is easy to pour and it is just the right size
6. Add hot sauce to the egg mixture (if your prefer).  I personally like Target’s brand "Archer Farms".  They have some gourmet sauces like a Key Lime Habanero hot sauce which goes quite well with this dish.  If you don’t like hot food though, feel free to leave that out…this dish is just as savory and delicious without it.
7. Add this mixture to the apple, and mix so the ingredients in the pan are fully coated.  Whisk another egg up if you need it.
8. Cook for 5-7 minutes until the bottom is brown and the omlett is set enough to flip.
9. Using the technique described above, invert the omlett onto a plate and then slide back into the pan.
10. Repeat flip twice to fully set and brown the omlett on both sides.
11. Serve warm with extra hot sauce for a spicy breakfast guaranteed to jump start your day.

One thing to remember as well though, is that it is almost impossible to make a bad omlett!  Experiment and have fun with it…you might just surprise yourself and make something really good .

Just in case you have a sweet tooth and you are looking for something interesting to try.  Give these cookies a whirl.

Start with the basic recipe found here:

Italian Party Cookies

Then follow these additional instructions for a perfect batch:

1. Just in case people don’t know what it is…Almond Paste is NOT Marzipan.  It is much more dense and will come in a tube similar to what you would find patte in.  It will be in a little box and it always comes in a 7 oz package…so you only need one package.  Expect to pay about 5 bucks for it and you’ll find it usually on the top shelf in the baking section of super target…Publix is in a similar place.  It will be near the baking chocolate and coconut, sugar, etc.
2. Avoid using crisco or margarine…butter will actually make the cake rise better and more even (and taste better…unsalted please).
3. When you are integrating, take some of the butter and throw it in the microwave…only about 1 pat or 2 of the full amount.  Add this directly to the almond paste and use a potato masher to soften the almond paste. Otherwise, it will not integrate well and you’ll have chunks of almond paste flying around the kitchen when you try to blend it…even in a stand mixer.
4. When you separate and color, make sure to also add yellow food coloring to the middle layer.  They say to just  leave the middle layer plain, but the cookies will look better with a yellow middle.
5. For the best results, use those square aluminum pans (the disposable ones).  Butter them and then flour lightly.  Also make sure you place a square of parchment on the bottom of each…this will ensure that the cakes come out perfect.
6. Cut out a square of parchment using the bottom of the pan to trace.  You will need his square later.  Place it in the center of a wire rack and place the rack inside of a shallow baking sheet lined with tin foil.  You’ll understand why later.
7. Parchment is NOT wax paper.  The main difference is that wax paper has WAX on it.  As Alton Brown would say, "That’s not good eats".  Don’t go cheap…buy yourself some parchment, it is good for everything and has long been known as "The Bakers Secret."
8. Once the batter is ready, spoon evenly into the pans.  Remember, the cookie is 3 layers, so the layer of cake in the pan is only going to be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.  This is going to make it difficult to spread the batter perfectly in the pan because of the parchment, but a rubber spatula works best.  Make sure that the batter is fairly even.  It will probably take 5 minutes of massaging to get the batter even in each pan.  Tapping the corners will help, but the parchment will shift around on the bottom.  Using a toothpick to hold the parchment through the batter while you get it even will help.
9. Cook time is everything…watch carefully.  The batter should not be overly brown (not much at all), but it should be mostly dry on the top.  As soon as you start smelling cherries in the kitchen (the smell of the almond paste baking), it should be just about done…sit and watch through the glass door until they look done.  Take out all three cakes and let sit while you prepare the chocolate.
10. For anyone who hasn’t worked with chocolate, I recommend a 2 qt saucepan with 6 cups of water brought to a simmer that is like 3-4, not full heat!  Throw a glass bowl in the water and add about 1.5 to 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the pan and let them slowly melt…stirring slowly with a rubber spatula.  Don’t rush…chocolate is delicate.  It should be shiny when you’ve reached the ideal temperature.  If it seems to dry out, add a small amount of butter and reduce the heat.  It shouldn’t happen if you are careful.  Most importantly, keep the chocolate dry.  Even a drop of water will destroy the batch and you’ll have to start over.  You may see some recipes that say you can add water to chocolate…this type of chocolate is MUCH different from chocolate chips, so don’t do it unless you like the smell of burnt chocolate.
11. Grab the wire rack with parchment square.  You’ll notice that the square is the same size as your 3 cakes.  Take a small amount of chocolate and smooth over the parchment…this will make sure that the bottom of the cookies have chocolate on them.  Don’t worry about being neat with it, that is why you are doing it on a wire rack.
12. Place the red cake on the bottom right on top of the chocolate on top of the parchment.  Make sure you place the layer upside down.  This way the surface is fairly flat that is facing upward.
13. Substitute strawberry preserves for apricot…you’ll thank me later.  Make the layer thin, but not too thin and don’t worry about the fruit not laying even…you really don’t need to strain the fruit out.  The cake is spongy, so it will mold around inconsistencies in the cake layer
14. Place the yellow layer next and repeat another layer of strawberry preserves.
15. Place the green layer last.
16. Grab the remaining chocolate and pour on top.  Slowly smooth the chocolate with a spatula into a thin, but even layer on top and then smooth around the sides.  Make sure to smooth it out thin on the sides and push any runoff through the wire rack.  In the end, the cake should be fully covered in chocolate.
17. Sprinkle chocolate sprinkles on top while the chocolate is still warm.
18. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to overnight.
19. If you refrigerate overnight, make sure you take the cake out and bring to room temperature the next morning before cutting.  Use a large knife so you can cut into rectangles / squares.
20. If you have issues cutting, try placing the knife in a pot of boiling water before each cut.  You may find that the top cracks when you cut, this CAN happen.  If you want to minimize…try heating the knife more or letting the cake warm to room temperature longer.

These tips should make these cookies a little less intimidating to make.  Happy Baking!