Daydreams of Baking

Changing Things Up

2010-06-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that I'm changing things up a bit. I'm shutting down this blog and starting a new one. My new blog, Jennifer's Treasured Recipes, is going to be my living, breathing digital recipe box and cookbook. Basically, it's going to be a highly-organized collection of my very favorite recipes, with beautiful pictures and useful notes about each dish. I'm constantly going to be adding new recipes, as well as updating old ones with new notes and suggestions.

I've already copied over my favorite recipes from Daydreams of Baking to my new blog, and I've gone ahead and added a few new ones, like these awesome Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies and this delicious Rhubarb Refrigerator Jam that goes great in these Jam Thumbprint Cookies.

And don't worry, I'll be leaving up the archives for Daydreams of Baking, so if you have a recipe on this blog bookmarked, it will still be there when you are ready to make it!

Anyway, head on over to Jennifer's Treasured Recipes and let me know what you think!

Caramel Cashew Cake Bars

2010-04-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

You know what? Some of the cookbooks that I've seen for sale at my favorite thrift store are hilariously horrible. I'm talking about cookbooks that would be right at home in the Gallery of Regrettable Food. Like this one time, I saw a cookbook that was nothing but Jello recipes, and it had a recipe for savoury beef Jello with little pieces of onion floating in it! Ick! And this other time, I found a cookbook from the fifties that recommended cooking a whole chicken in the microwave! And the picture that accompanied this recommendation? It showed a chicken that was just as pale and rubbery as you'd expect a microwaved chicken to be! LOL! I guess there were no food stylists in the fifties..

Anyway, while most of the cookbooks I see at the thrift store are laugh-inducingly bad, I do occasionally find a diamond in the rough, so to speak. For example, I picked up Taste of Home Cookies for $6 at Goodwill last week, and I absolutely love it. It's packed with all sorts of yummy-looking recipes and the photos are truly gorgeous. On top of that, the recipes are neatly laid out and each recipe includes a cute little comment from a Taste of Home reader. Overall, it's a great cookbook.

Anyway, just for fun, I let my fiance pick out the first recipe for me to make from Taste of Home Cookies, and boy, did he ever pick a winner! These caramel cashew cake bars are absolutely delicious! They're sweet and salty and chewy and crunchy and just plain tasty! The soft, sweet cake-like base of these bars is rich and dense and pairs perfectly with the caramelly broiled cashew topping. Partner one of these bars with a nice cold glass of milk, and you have a pretty darn good dessert!

This recipe is adapted from the caramel-cashew cake bar recipe found in Taste of Home Cookies:

Caramel Cashew Cake Bars

Cake Layer:
3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2 c salted cashews (chopped)

Topping:
1/2 c salted cashews (chopped)
1/4 c brown sugar
2 tbsp butter (melted)
1 1/2 tbsp heavy whipping cream

1. Preheat your oven to 350º.

2. To make the cake layer, whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the eggs and stir until everything is just combined. Gently fold in the cashews.

3. Spread the batter evenly around the bottom of a well-greased 8 inch square cake pan. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly touched.

4. While the cake layer is baking, make the topping by placing the cashews, brown sugar, melted butter, and cream into a small bowl and stirring until all of the ingredients are well combined. Evenly spread the topping over the still warm cake layer.

5. Turn on your oven's broiler and set it to high. Place the cake under the broiler for 1-2 minutes or until the topping is bubbling and has browned slightly.

6. Allow the pan to cool slightly before carefully cutting the cake into into bars. Carefully remove the bars from the pan and place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Cinnamon Chip Shortbread Cookies

2010-04-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, my fiance's friend Matt came over and made us a wonderful dinner of braised chicken with carrots and onions. It was really fun talking and laughing and eating with Matt, and the meal he made was truly delicious. It was such a great way to start the weekend!

Anyway, several hours before Matt came over, I decided that I should make a dessert to go with his tasty meal. I originally wanted to make brownies, but when I peeked into my fridge, I discovered that I was out of whole eggs! I did have two eggs yolks stashed away in a little plastic container, but that wasn't nearly enough to make brownies!

I was about to completely give up on my dessert making plans when suddenly it hit me: Two eggs yolks is just enough to make some shortbread cookies! So, I dashed off to my cookbook collection, found my favorite shortbread recipe, grabbed my egg yolks, and got to work. And after a little bit of mixing, a lot of chilling, and a little bit of baking, I ended up with these yummy cinnamon chip shortbread cookies.

These cookies are crispy and crumbly and have a nice buttery flavor. The cinnamon chips that dot these cookies provide a nice warm note of spicy cinnamon flavor and just a bit of sweetness. Speaking of sweetness, these cookies are not very sugary by themselves; however, the super-saccharine turbinado sugar that is sprinkled on top of the cookies before they go in the oven balances the cookies out nicely, making them just sweet enough to become a lovely dessert.

This recipe is adapted from the sable recipe found in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours:

Cinnamon Chip Shortbread Cookies

2 c (280 g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 c butter (room temperature)
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c (29 g) powdered sugar
2 egg yolks (room temperature)
3/4 c cinnamon chips
turbinado sugar

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and powdered sugar until they are smooth and creamy. Add the egg yolks and beat until everything is well combined. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until the flour is just incorporated. Gently stir in the cinnamon chips.

3. Shape the finished cookie dough into two logs that are about 9 inches long each. Wrap these logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least three hours.

4. Preheat your oven to 350º. Cut 1/3 inch thick slices off of the cookie dough logs and arrange them on an ungreased baking sheet, leaving about an inch between each cookie. Generously sprinkle the top of each cookie with turbinado sugar. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until the cookies are golden around the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a minute or two before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Almond Yogurt Loaf

2010-04-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

Boy, did I ever have a baking slump last week! Over the course of three days, I tried three new recipes and none of them turned out particularly good. I mean, nothing that I made was bad enough for the blunder files, but all three recipes resulted in boring, flavorless baked goods that were meh at best.

I was feeling pretty frustrated after three failures in a row, so to help snap myself out of my baking funk, I decided to make a recipe that I knew was both simple and delicious: yogurt loaf. And since I also had an open bag of almonds sitting in my pantry that I wanted to use up, I decided to make my yogurt loaf almond flavored.

And I'm happy to report that, unlike my previous three baking flops, this almond yogurt loaf came out really tasty! It's perfectly sweet and is heavily scented with a heavenly almond aroma. The loaf itself is dense yet tender and very moist, and the little bits of chopped almond that are hidden throughout the loaf provide and nice crunch and a bit of nuttiness.

Yep. I think my baking slump is officially over. :)

This recipe is adapted from the Gateau au Yaourt a la Vanille recipe that is posted over at Piece of Cake:

Almond Yogurt Loaf

1 1/2 c (210 g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c plain yogurt
1 c sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 c vegetable oil
3/4 c chopped almonds

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, almond extract, and vegetable oil until everything is well combined. Add the yogurt mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir until the batter just barely comes together. Gently stir in the chopped almonds.

4. Generously grease two mini-loaf pans and fill them 3/4th of the way full with the batter. (I had a little bit of leftover batter, which I later baked up in a small ramekin.) Place the mini-loaf pans on a baking sheet and place the baking sheet in the oven. Bake the loaves for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. Allow the loaves to cool in their pans for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Amish Friendship Bread

2010-04-14T14:58:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right folks, I got another Amish friendship bread recipe for you today. And yep, I know that this is my third Amish friendship bread recipe this year. What can I say? I really love Amish friendship bread! It's just so moist and sweet and all-around tasty that I can't stop making it!

And this chocolate version? It's so very good! It has a lovely dense, cake-like texture and a wonderfully rich chocolate flavor. And did I mention that this bread is studded with both milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips? Because it is! And all those chocolate chips make this already delicious bread even better!

This time around I decided to make my friendship bread in a single bundt pan rather than two loaf pans because, well, bundt pans make food pretty! And also because the below recipe just happens to make the right amount of batter to fill a standard sized bundt pan. Isn't that convenient? You can still make this recipe in loaf pans, of course, though you might have to adjust the baking time a bit.

This recipe is adapted from the Amish Friendship Chocolate Bread recipe that is posted at allrecipes.com:

Chocolate Amish Friendship Bread

1 c Amish friendship bread starter
3 eggs
3/4 c oil
1/2 c milk
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c (280g) all-purpose flour
1/4 c (21 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large box (5.1 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 325°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the starter, eggs, oil, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract until everything is well combined.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix. Add the starter mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir until the batter just barely comes together. Gently stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Evenly pour the finished batter into a well-greased bundt pan. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it out on a wire rack to cool completely.

Just like all the other kinds of Amish friendship breads that I've made, this chocolate bread improves in both texture and flavor as it ages. So while it's really yummy right out of the oven, it's even better a day or two after you bake it. This bread also freezes very well, so feel free to make some up ahead of time and freeze it for a later date!

Strawberry Chunk Cake

2010-04-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

You know what? Practice really does make perfect.

I mean, a year and a half ago, I didn't even know how to make a cake without some sort of boxed mix. But now? Now I can turn out beauties like this strawberry chunk cake without any trouble at all. And my cake baking skills didn't just appear overnight. Nope, they took a lot of practice to develop. The path to cake-baking mastery was a long road, and I made several mistakes along the way. I over-mixed batters, I left cakes in the oven until they were bone-dry, and this one time I even forgot to grease my cake pans. But each time I made a cake mistake, I learned something new. And thanks to all those little lessons, today I can consistently produce delicious cakes every time I turn on the oven.

So if you are a novice cake baker, then let me encourage you to stick with it. Keeping baking, making mistakes, and learning, and you'll be a cake making master before you know it!

I made this lovely strawberry chunk cake for my fiance's birthday. The recipe below is for a three-layer cake, but since I only own two round cake pans and was pressed for time, I ended up baking only two of the layers and then frosting them extra thickly. (I later used the leftover batter for the third layer to make two mini-loaf cakes, which I sent to my parents for Easter.)

But even with only two layers, this cake was really tasty. The cake itself is a basic vanilla butter cake that is studded with chunks of beautiful red strawberries. The cake is lightly sweet and buttery and whenever you bit into a strawberry chunk you are greeted with burst of wonderful berry flavor. And the meringue-style buttercream that goes with this cake is just awesome. It's light and airy in texture, but is rich, sweet, and buttery in taste. And just like the cake, the frosting is filled with juicy chunks of strawberry that provide a refreshing berry flavor.

This cake has a lot of steps, so it is a bit time consuming to make. However, each step is relatively easy, so just take it one step at a time and you'll be fine. And a little practice always helps. :)

This recipe is adapted from the strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream recipe posted over at Bake your heart out:

Strawberry Chunk Cake

Cake:
2 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c butter (room temperature)
2 1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 egg white
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c milk
2 c fresh strawberries (hulled and chopped)

Frosting:
4 egg whites
1 1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 c butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 c fresh strawberries (hulled and chopped)

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the egg white and the vanilla extract.

4. In three additions, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk to the butter mixture, beating well between each addition. (i.e. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat well, add 1/3 of the milk, beat well, etc.) Gently stir in the chopped strawberries.

5. Evenly divide the finished batter among three well-greased 9" round cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean.

6. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

7. To make the frosting, place the sugar and egg whites into a heatproof metal bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisking constantly, heat the mixture until it registers 165° on a food thermometer, which will take about 3 minutes.

8. Using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, beat the egg and sugar mixture on medium speed until it cools, which will take about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter one stick at a time, beating well between each addition.

9. After the last of the butter has been added, beat the frosting on medium-high speed for another 6-10 minutes, or until the frosting is white, shiny, and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract and then stir in the chopped strawberries.

10. To assemble the cake, place the first layer of cake on a cake stand. Spread 1/3rd of the frosting on top of this cake layer. Place the second cake layer on top of the first and then spread 1/3rd of the frosting on top of the second layer. Place the final layer of cake on top of the first two layers and use the remaining 1/3rd of the frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.

Because the frosting has fresh, uncooked fruit in it, I recommend storing this cake covered in the fridge. My cake started to get a bit stale after five days, so I don't recommend keeping your cake for much longer than that.

Strawberry Milkshake Truffles

2010-04-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! If you are among the many people celebrating Easter today, allow me wish you a joyous day filled with friends, family, good food, and lovely spring weather!

Unfortunately I couldn't celebrate Easter with my family this year, so to make it up to them, I sent them a package filled with all sorts of springtime treats, including these cute little pink and white strawberry milkshake truffles.

Let me warn you right off the bat: These truffles are super, super sugary, so if you aren't a fan of hyper-sweet candy, then these truffles are probably not for you.

On the other hand, if you, like me, are a fan of all things saccharine, then you will love these little guys. Each truffle starts with a smooth, creamy center that is intensely sweet and has a rich strawberry aroma. These strawberry centers are then coated with a shell of vanilla-scented white chocolate and topped with crunchy pink sprinkles. Yum!

This recipe is a Daydreams of Baking original, but it was inspired by an uncooked fondant recipe that I found on about.com:

Strawberry Milkshake Truffles

1/3 c butter (room temperature)
1/3 c light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c strawberry Nesquik powder
3 1/2 c (403 g) powdered sugar
18 oz white chocolate OR white candy melts
pink sprinkles (optional)

1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, corn syrup, vanilla extract, salt, and strawberry Nesquik until they are well combined.

2. Beat in the powdered sugar a little bit at a time. As you add the powdered sugar, the mixture will start to thicken and form a stiff dough. After the last of the powdered sugar has been added, gather the sugar dough into a ball. Knead the sugar dough ball a few times on a work surface that has been lightly dusted with powdered sugar.

3. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Pinch off pieces of the sugar dough and then roll them into small balls. Place these balls onto the waxed paper. Allow the balls to dry in open air for about 15 minutes.

4. While the sugar dough balls are drying, temper your white chocolate or melt your white candy melts. Coat each ball by dipping it into the chocolate/candy, and then set it back on the baking sheet and sprinkle it with some pink sprinkles. Allow the coating on the finished truffles to harden completely before removing the the truffles from the waxed paper.

I thought that the pink and white color scheme of these truffles was really cute for Easter, but now that I think about it, these truffles would be great for Valentine's Day or a baby shower, wouldn't they?

Peanut Butter Blondies

2010-03-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

Mmm. Peanut butter.

Peanut butter and I have quite a long history together. I've been friends with this smooth nutty spread ever since early childhood. Back then my peanut butter of choice was creamy-style Jif. Ah Jif. I must have made hundreds of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the stuff. And how many times did I pack crackers topped with Jif peanut butter inside of my school lunch box? A lot, that's for sure!

Nowadays, I'm a big fan of all-natural peanut butter, especially of the Smuckers variety. Being made only of peanuts and salt, all-natural peanut butter has a bold, unadulterated peanut flavor. And because it doesn't have any additives or preservatives, it's healthier for you too! I like spreading it on toast and bagels and whole grain muffins. Yum.

But I do have one problem with all-natural peanut butter: It's not very good for baking. I've tried baking with all natural peanut butter a few times before, and it has never worked out. I don't know why, but for some reason, all-natural peanut butter seems to make baked goods really dry and crumbly. And not in a good way.

So recently I've been using Skippy Natural for all my peanut butter related baking. Unlike all-natural peanut butter, Skippy Natural has some added sugar and oil, which I find makes it more stable for baking applications. And unlike creamy-style Jif, Skippy Natural doesn't contain any diglycerides or hydrogenated oils. Which is a good thing!

Anyway, enough chit-chat about peanut butter. Let's get on to the blondies!

These peanut butter blondies are thick and dense and chewy and really good! They are absolutely packed with yummy, nutty peanut butter flavor and are sweetened with with brown sugar, which gives them just a tiny hint of molasses flavor. And while these blondies are really tasty plain, topping them with a little milk chocolate frosting makes them even better! I mean, who doesn't like chocolate with their peanut butter? Seriously.

This recipe is adapted from the peanut butter blondie recipe posted over at Joy the Baker:

Peanut Butter Blondies

2 c (280 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
10 tbsp butter (cut into cubes)
2 c brown sugar
1 c peanut butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 recipe milk chocolate frosting (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 325°.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

3. Place the butter and brown sugar into a medium-sized sauce pan and melt them together over medium heat until the butter is completely melted. Take the pan off of the heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes.

4. Whisk the peanut butter into the butter/sugar mixture and then let the mixture cool for another 5 minutes.

5. Whisk the eggs and vanilla extract into the peanut butter mixture. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and gently stir until everything is smooth and well combined.

6. Evenly spread the finished batter around the bottom of a well greased 9" x 13" baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean.

7. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow it to cool completely. When the blondies have cooled, you may frost them with the milk chocolate frosting if desired. Cut the blondies into bars and serve.

Milk Chocolate Frosting

2010-03-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does hearing the phrase "milk chocolate frosting" make you salivate just a little bit? Anyone? No? Really? Maybe it's just me then...Hrm.

All Pavlovian responses aside, this frosting is truly drool worthy. It's rich and creamy and has a wonderfully smooth milk chocolate flavor. It's strongly sweet, but its sweetness is balanced by just a pinch of salt. In short, it's a great all-purpose chocolaty frosting that pairs perfectly with a wide range of cakes, cookies, and brownies.

And the best part? This frosting is quick and simple to make. The only part of making this frosting that is even remotely difficult is melting the chocolate. As you may know, chocolate can burn very easily, so when you are melting chocolate you really have to keep an close eye on it. I always melt my chocolate using a double boiler. My double boiler heats the chocolate very gently and evenly, ensuring that I end up with silky smooth molten chocolate goodness.

This recipe is adapted from the milk chocolate frosting recipe that is posted over at Joy the Baker:

Milk Chocolate Frosting

6 tbsp butter (room temperature)
3 tbsp (15 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 c (201 g) powdered sugar
3 tbsp milk
3/4 c milk chocolate chips (melted and cooled slightly)

1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, cocoa powder, salt, powdered sugar, and milk until smooth.

2. Add the melted chocolate and beat until everything is well combined.

Lemon Bars

2010-03-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know if there is a way to neatly eat a treat that is topped with powdered sugar? Because I sure don't! Seriously, every time I try to bite into a powdered sugar covered goody, whether it's a donut, a meltaway cookie, or one of these lemon bars, I always end up with sweet and sticky white powder all over my hands and my face and sometimes even my shirt! How embarrassing!

But at least these lemon bars are worth all the mess. These citrusy treats are like a tall, cold glass of lemonade: they're a little sweet, a little tart, and very refreshing. The crumbly shortbread crust of these bars has a nice crunch that contrasts beautifully with the silky smoothness of the lemon layer, and the dusting of powdered sugar, though it may make these bars a bit messy to eat, adds just the right amount of sweetness to these lemony treats.

This recipe is adapted from the lemon bar recipe found in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 14th Edition:

Lemon Bars

Crust:
2 c (280 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 c (58 g) powdered sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c cold butter (cut into cubes)

Filling:
4 eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon's worth)
3/4 c lemon juice (about 3 lemon's worth)
1 tsp lemon extract
1/4 c milk

Garnish:
powdered sugar

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. To make the crust, place the flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and salt into a large bowl and whisk until everything is well combined. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour mixture until the it resembles a course meal and no pieces of butter larger than a pea remain.

3. Evenly press the crust mixture into the bottom of a well greased 9" x 13" pan. Place the crust in the oven and bake it for 18-20 minutes or until the edges of the crust just start to turn golden brown.

4. While the crust is baking, assemble the filling by placing the eggs, sugar, flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon extract, and milk into a large bowl and whisking until everything is smooth.

5. Evenly pour the lemon filling over the hot crust. Return the lemon bars to the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until the center of the bars is set.

6. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow it to cool completely. Cut the finished lemon bars into bars and garnish them with a generous dusting of powdered sugar right before serving.

These bars should be stored in the refrigerator and are best served chilled. The crust portion of these bars will get soggy after a few days, so I recommend eating these bars within a day or two of making them. This recipe also makes quite a few bars, so if you want to, you can halve the recipe and bake them in a 8" square cake pan. Or just make the whole batch and share them with your friends!

Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Muffins

2010-03-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally sprung! Yay!

Seriously, the past few days have been so wonderfully warm, and the clear skies and beautiful sunshine have melted away the last few piles of snow. The grass is beginning to turn green now, and I even saw some vibrant green daffodil sprouts poking out of the ground today. Yep, spring is here!

And so to celebrate the return of spring, I made these sunny, yummy lemon poppy seed muffins. I really like these muffins. They are sweet, but not too sweet, and are lightly scented with lemon. The sour cream in these muffins makes them really soft and tender while the poppy seeds give them a little bit of a crunch. Warm them up and top them with some jam and you have the perfect breakfast for a sunny spring morning!

This recipe is adapted from the lemon poppy seed muffin recipe found in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my home to yours:

Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Muffins

2 c (280 g) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 c sugar
1 tsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon's worth)
1/4 c lemon juice (about 1 lemon's worth)
2 eggs
3/4 c sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c butter (melted and cooled)
2 tbsp poppy seeds

1. Move a rack to the center of your oven and preheat it to 400°.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. Place the sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Using your fingertips, rub the lemon zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the lemon juice, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract to the sugar mixture and whisk until everything is well combined. While whisking continuously, slowly pour in the melted butter. Whisk until everything is well blended.

4. Add the sour cream mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir until the batter just barely comes together. Gently stir in the poppy seeds.

5. Divide the batter evenly between the 12-cups of a well greased muffin pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in their pan for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

St. Patrick's Day M&M Brownies

2010-03-12T11:14:00.000-08:00

You know what I just realized? I probably shouldn't be celebrating St. Patrick's Day. I mean, I'm not Irish, I'm not Catholic, and I'm not even much of a drinker, so the day should have no meaning for me.

I do, however, love the color green. A lot. In fact, it's probably my favorite color. Green is so vibrant and lively, and this time of year it reminds me of the spring season that is just around the corner.

And St. Patrick's Day, well, it's the perfect excuse to decorate everything from beer and rivers to fudge brownies in a pretty shade of green. And I think that's enough reason to celebrate for me. :)

These sweet brownies are rich and dense and deeply chocolatly. They have wonderfully thin and crackly tops and while the edge pieces are nice and chewy, the center pieces remain moist and fudgy. The crispy candy shells of the green M&M's that decorate these brownies give them a little bit of crunch and some extra sweetness, which makes these yummy fudgy treats practically irresistible.

This recipe is adapted from the chewy, fudgy chocolate brownie recipe that is posted over at Piece of Cake:

St. Patrick's Day M&M Brownies

14 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c butter
4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
6 eggs
2 1/2 c sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
2 c all-purpose flour
1 c green M&M's

1. Place a rack in the lower third of your oven and preheat it to 350°.

2. Using a double boiler over low heat, melt together the chocolate and butter until they are smooth. Whisk the cocoa powder into the mixture and set it aside to cool for a few minutes.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt until everything is smooth. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until everything is well combined. Gently stir in the flour until the batter just barely comes together. Gently stir in half of the green M&M's.

4. Spread batter evenly around the bottom of a well greased 9" x 13" pan. Evenly sprinkle the remaining M&M's over the top of the batter. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs. Place the brownie pan on a wire rack and allow the brownies to cool completely before you cut them into bars.

Wondering where I got so many green M&M's? Here's my secret: Right after the holiday season I bought a big ol' bag of Christmas colored M&M's when they were on sale for half price. I separated the red M&M's from the green M&M's, and then used the red M&M's for Valentine's Day. I saved the green M&M's for these brownies. Genius!

Also, even though it is a bit expensive, you can order green M&M's online at the M&M's website.

Waffles

2010-03-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

Today I'm going to let you in on one of my many money saving secrets: Whenever possible, I buy my kitchen gadgets second-hand. Yep, that's right folks, I try my hardest to purchase all of my culinary tools at thrift stores and garage sales and online auction sites. And why not? There's tons of gently used kitchen equipment out there looking for a new home, and the prices you get when thrifting just can't be beat. I mean, just take a look at some of the bargains that I've found:

I got this really nice clear glass cookie jar at Goodwill for a buck. I've seen something similar on sale at Target for $10!

I also bought a brand new, high quality 4-cup tartlet pan for 99¢ at Goodwill. Pans like this one usually cost around $17. What a deal!

I purchased a barely used 6-cup mini bundt pan at a garage sale for 75¢. Retail price: $20. Score!

And my latest find? A gently used electric Belgian-style waffle maker that cost me all of $8. What a find! I've wanted to make homemade waffles for a while now, but shelling out $40 for a new waffle maker always seemed so silly. But eight dollars? I can spare eight dollars if it means I get delicious homemade waffles!

And delicious is what these waffles were! They were slightly sweet with a pleasant vanilla flavor, and they baked up so nice and light and fluffy and crispy in my second-hand waffle maker. I topped my waffles with some fresh strawberries and a little whipped cream to make the perfect Sunday morning breakfast. Yum!

This recipe is adapted from the waffle recipe found in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 14th Edition:

Waffles

1 3/4 c (245 g) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar
1 3/4 c milk
1/2 c canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until they are well combined. Add the milk, canola oil, and vanilla extract and whisk until everything is smooth.

3. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and gently stir until the flour is just barely moistened. Be careful not to over-stir. The batter is going to be lumpy and that's okay!

4. Preheat your waffle maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Depending on the size of your waffle maker, you will need somewhere between 3/4 cup and 1 1/2 cups of batter per waffle. Pour the batter into the waffle maker, close the lid, and bake for 2 minutes or until the steam coming out of the waffle maker decreases significantly. Serve the waffles while they are still warm.

Oh, one more thing! These waffles freeze really nicely, so if you have any untopped leftover waffles, wrap them up tight and throw them in your freezer. You can pull them out of the freezer at a later date and toast them up just like you would an Eggo.

Butterscotch Amish Friendship Bread

2010-03-03T16:12:00.000-08:00

So, remember all of those extra yeast starters that I had after making that Amish friendship bread awhile back? I wasn't sure what to do with them at the time, so I ended up just stashing all of them in my freezer.

I mean, I know that I'm suppose to give out my extra yeast starters to other people so that they can make their own yummy friendship bread, but the problem is that most of my friends and co-workers just aren't really into the whole "baking" thing. It seems silly to give my yeast out to people who aren't going to enjoy using it, so I guess I'll just have to use up all of those little bags of yeast myself! That's right, I have no choice but to bake up loaf after loaf of sweet, delicious bread. Poor, poor me... :)

Anyway, I stumbled upon this butterscotch variation of the classic Amish friendship bread recipe during one of my many trips around the internets, and I thought that it sounded really good. The recipe called for butterscotch chips, and, as you may know, I do ever so love my butterscotch chips. Intrigued, I defrosted one of my bags of yeast starter and made up some butterscotch Amish friendship bread of my own. It turned out really good. This butterscotch bread is moist and rich and has a nice heavy butterscotch flavor. It's super sweet and when you bake it up it comes out with a nice thick crunchy crust. Yum!

This recipe was inspired by the Amish friendship bread recipe posted over at Mrs. Suzie Homemaker:

Butterscotch Amish Friendship Bread

1 c Amish friendship bread starter
3 eggs
3/4 c oil
1/2 c milk
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c (280g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large box (5.1 oz) instant butterscotch pudding mix
1 c butterscotch chips

1. Preheat your oven to 325°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the starter, eggs, oil, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract until everything is well combined.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix. Add the starter mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir until the batter just barely comes together. Gently stir in the butterscotch chips.

3. Divide the batter evenly between two well greased loaf pans and place the loaf pans on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a bread comes out clean. Allow the breads to cool in their pans for 10 minutes before turning them out on a wire rack to cool completely.

Strawberry Sauce

2010-02-25T10:14:00.000-08:00

As the daylight hours begin to wax, I find myself contemplating the warmer days ahead. In just a few weeks now, the snow will begin to melt and tiny tulip sprouts will playfully poke out of the ground to greet the new season. But alas, the serenity of spring, with its beautiful flowers and gentle rains, is destine to last only a short while before giving way to the warmth of summer. The summer sun will then bath the land in golden light, serving as sustenance for all manner of flowering flora and giving them the strength to grow heavy with fruit. And then, during those most beautiful days of June, a harvest of ruby hued strawberries, so luscious and sweet, will find they way into my humble home, were they will be savored with the utmost delight.

To put it less poetically, winter is almost over and I really want strawberries!

And since I've been in such a strawberry mood lately, I decided to make this strawberry sauce. This simple sauce has an intense strawberry flavor and just the right amount of sweetness. It's silky smooth and is spiked with just a tiny splash of vanilla, which gives it a bit of depth. All in all, it's a perfect way to sate a late winter strawberry craving!

You can use frozen berries to make this sauce, just make sure that you thaw your berries first!

This recipe is adapted from the strawberry sauce recipe over at Joy of Baking:

Strawberry Sauce

2 c strawberries (hulled and quartered)
1/3 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Place the strawberries and the sugar into a medium-sized sauce pan. Place the pan over medium heat and, while stirring occasionally, heat the mixture until it begins to simmer.

2. Allow the mixture to simmer for 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves completely and the strawberries deepen in color slightly. Take the pan off of the heat and allow it to cool completely.

3. Stir the vanilla extract into the cooled strawberry/sugar mixture. Place the mixture into a blender or food processor and blend until a smooth puree forms.

4. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve to remove any seeds.

The best part about this sauce is its versatility. It just has so many uses! You can swirl some of it into oatmeal or yogurt, creating a quick and tasty breakfast. Or, if you want a light dessert, you can fold this sauce into some whipped cream to make a delicious strawberry fool. This sauce also makes a great topping for a variety of dessert. I recommend drizzling some over vanilla ice cream, or cheesecake, or maybe even a slice of vanilla bean yogurt loaf:

Vanilla Bean Yogurt Loaf

2010-02-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

Things I've been really into lately:

1. Watching the Winter Olympics.

Seriously, I've been catching as much Olympic coverage as I possibly can. I've especially been enjoying watching men's hockey. Even though I'm an American, I'm kind of rooting for the Swedish hockey team because it contains almost an entire line of Detroit Red Wings players. (Wings fan here! Hello!) Also, I've been watching a surprising amount of curling. Now that I actually understand the rules, curling is pretty fun to watch, and Debbie McCormick practically lives in my backyard. On top of that, the men's snowboarding halfpipe this year was totally awesome. Shawn White, you rock my world!

2. Increasing my Gamerscore on Xbox Live.

Really how silly is this? I mean, I'm investing vast amounts of time just to increase an arbitrary number that has absolutely no meaning in real life. But I've been having so much fun doing it! Collecting Gs gets me to play all of those video games that I bought and then forgot about, and the sense of accomplishment that I get when I unlock an achievement is quite rewarding.

3. Using whole vanilla beans in my baking recipes.

I bought a bulk pack of whole vanilla beans at Costco so that I could make these cupcakes for my fiance, and I've been hooked on the skinny dark pods ever since. Putting vanilla bean scraping into baked goods gives them this amazingly deep and smooth vanilla flavor, and all those little dark flecks of vanilla bean just look so pretty. I mean, just take a look at this vanilla bean yogurt loaf:

This recipe is adapted from the Gateau au Yaourt a la Vanille recipe that is posted over at Piece of Cake:

Vanilla Bean Yogurt Loaf

1 1/2 c (210 g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c plain yogurt
1 c sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean (split and scraped)
1 c vegetable oil

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, vanilla bean scrapings, and vegetable oil until everything is well combined. Add the yogurt mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir until the batter just barely comes together.

4. Divide the batter evenly between two well greased mini-loaf pans. Place the mini-loaf pans on a baking sheet and place the baking sheet in the oven. Bake the loaves for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. Allow the loaves to cool in their pans for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

This loaf has a wonderfully dense, almost poundcake-like texture and a beautifully complex vanilla flavor. It is sweet, but not too sweet, and has just a bit of dairy tang thanks to the addition of plain yogurt. As an added bonus, this loaf also partners well with a wide array of toppings. I've been pairing slices of this loaf with everything from Nutella to strawberry sauce.

Double Vanilla Cupcakes

2010-02-15T16:53:00.000-08:00

My fiance loves vanilla in the same way that I love chocolate; unabashedly, unapologetically, and absolutely. While in his presence, if you even imply that vanilla is somehow plain or boring, he'll give you lengthy and impassioned lecture on the error of your ways. He just loves vanilla that much.

So it came as no surprise that when I asked my fiance what I should bake him for Valentine's Day, he said that he wanted "something with lots of vanilla." After a little bit of searching, I decided that this "something" would be these double vanilla cupcakes.

The cake portion of these cupcakes is soft and sweet and made beautiful by pretty little flecks of vanilla bean. A matching vanilla bean frosting tops each cupcake and adds an extra kick of sugary sweetness and buttery richness. And living up to their name, these cupcakes are thoroughly drenched in vanilla. Seriously, they contain two and a half teaspoons of vanilla extract and the insides of two whole vanilla beans. All this vanilla lends the cupcakes a wonderfully strong vanilla aroma that is absolutely delightful.

In the end, the whole combination of cake and frosting and vanilla is really special. I guess you could say that these cupcakes are in no way "vanilla". :)

This recipe is adapted from the double vanilla cupcake recipe over at Simply Recipes:

Double Vanilla Cupcakes

Cake:
1/2 c whole milk
1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 c + 2 tbsp (225 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c butter (room temperature)
1 c sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites

Frosting:
1/2 c butter (room temperature)
1 1/4 c (144 g) powdered sugar
1/8 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. Place the milk into a small sauce pan. Cut open the vanilla bean and scrap out the seeds. Place both the vanilla seeds and the vanilla pod into the milk. Gently heat the milk over low heat until it just barely starts to simmer. Be careful not to scale the milk. Remove the milk from the heat and allow it to steep and cool.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

4. Remove the vanilla pods from the cooled milk. Place the milk into a small bowl and add to it the sour cream and vanilla extract. Whisk until everything is well combined. Set aside.

5. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until it is well combined. Add the egg whites one at a time, beating well between each addition. In three additions, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk mixture to the butter mixture, beating well between each addition. (i.e. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat well, add 1/3 of the milk mixture, beat well, etc.)

6. Divide the finished batter evenly among the 12 cups of a well greased muffin pan. Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 2 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

7. To make the frosting, place the butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract into a large bowl. Cut open the vanilla bean, scrap out the seeds, and add the seeds to the bowl that contains the other ingredients. Beat everything together until smooth.

8. Frost the cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

Strawberry Whoopie Pies

2010-02-11T18:11:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you now of the marvelous whoopie pie.

Whoopie pies are tasty treats that are popular in parts of Maine and Pennsylvania. They consist of a sweet and fluffy cream filling that is sandwiched between two soft, cake-like cookies. Whoopie pies are relatively large; in fact, most are as big as hamburgers. Traditionally, the cookie portion of the whoopie pie is chocolate-flavored and the filling is vanilla-flavored; however, now that whoopie pies are increasing in popularity, they can be found in many other flavor combinations.

I was first introduced to these sugary sandwiches of deliciousness at the Dane County Farmer's Market. You see, a year or two ago, Sweet Street Bakery started selling whoopie pies at their market stand and they looked so good that I just had to try one. I've been hooked on them ever since!

Nowadays, Sweet Street sells five or six different flavors of whoopie pies at the farmer's market every week. At this point, I've tried every single flavor they've made and my hands down favorite is their strawberry-flavored whoopie pies. I really wanted to recreate these sweet strawberry wonders at home, so I did some reasearch on the internet and then pieced together the following recipe...

The cookie portion of this recipes is adapted from a strawberry whoopie pie recipe I found on Oprah.com, and the filling portion is adapted from the whoopie pie recipe found in Anita Chu's Field Guide to Cookies: How to Identify and Bake Virtually Every Cookie Imaginable:

Strawberry Whoopie Pies

Filling:
1 c halved strawberries
1/2 c butter (room temperature)
3 c (345 g) powdered sugar
2 c marshmallow cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cookies:
3 1/2 c (490 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 c brown sugar
2/3 c canola oil
1/2 c plain yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 c halved strawberries

1. To make the filling, finely chop the strawberries and then place them in a large bowl. Add the butter, powdered sugar, marshmallow cream, and vanilla extract and beat until everything is well combined.

2. To make the cookies, move a rack to the middle of your oven and preheat it to 350°.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and canola oil until they are smooth. Add the yogurt and vanilla extract and whisk until everything is well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Finely chop the strawberries and then stir them into the sugar/oil mixture.

5. Pour the sugar/oil mixture into the flour mixture and gently stir until the dough just barely comes together.

6. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, measure out 1/4 cup mounds of dough and place them 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. I was able to fit 6 cookies on my standard sized baking sheet.

7. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

8. After the cookies have cooled completely, use a 4-inch round cookie cutter to cut a single round out of each cookie. This will ensure that the cookies are all the same size.

9. To assemble the whoopie pies, place a generous dollop of filling on the flat side of one cookie and gently press it together with the flat side of a second cookie. Repeat until you run out of cookies.

These whoopie pies aren't quite as good a Sweet Street's version, but they come really, really close. The cake portion of these whoopie pies is soft and moist and just a little bit chewy. It has a nice strawberry flavor and is only slightly sweet, which allows it to pair nicely with the super-sugary strawberry-rich filling. So very yummy!

Perfect Party Cake

2010-02-08T09:55:00.001-08:00

About a week ago, on Sunday, I woke up with a strange urge to bake a fancy celebration cake. I have no idea where this longing came from. I mean, it wasn't like there was event or holiday coming up for which I would need such an impressive cake. Nope, I just felt like making a really nice cake for no particular reason at all. Aren't I silly? :)

So, following the call of my unprovoked culinary yearnings, I went over to my bookshelf, grabbed some cookbooks, and looked for a recipe for a fancy cake. After a bit of searching, I settled on this perfect party cake recipe, though I did make a few tweaks to the original recipe by substituting vanilla for lemon and strawberry for raspberry.

The resulting cake was nothing short of awesome. The cake itself was light and fluffy, though not at all dry, and was delicately sweet and lightly scented with vanilla. It was frosted with a beautiful meringue buttercream that, despite being airy and light on the tongue, was wonderfully rich and buttery and sweet. Between each layer of the cake there was a thin smear of strawberry preserves, which gave the cake just the right amount of luscious berry flavor. Add to all of this a generous sprinkling of a sweetened shredded coconut, and you have about the best cake ever. Which, for me at least, was the perfect cake to make for no reason at all.

This recipe is adapted from the perfect party cake recipe found in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my home to yours:

Perfect Party Cake

Cake:
2 1/4 c (293 g) cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c buttermilk
4 egg whites (room temperature)
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c butter (room temperature)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Frosting:
1 c sugar
4 egg whites
1 1/2 c butter (room temperature)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Garnishes:
2/3 c strawberry preserves
1 1/2 c sweetened shredded coconut

To make the cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites until well combined. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract.

5. In three additions, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture to the butter mixture, beating well between each addition. (i.e. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat well, add 1/3 of the buttermilk mixture, beat well, etc.) After you add the last of the buttermilk, beat the batter for an additional 2 minutes to make sure that everything is well combined.

6. Pour the batter into two well-greased 9" round cake pans, diving the batter among the two pans as evenly as possible. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean.

7. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting:

1. Place the sugar and egg whites into a heatproof metal bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisking constantly, heat the mixture until it registers 160° on a food thermometer, which will take about 3 minutes.

2. Using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, beat the egg and sugar mixture on medium speed until it cools, which will take about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter one stick at a time, beating well between each addition.

3. After the last of the butter has been added, beat the frosting on medium-high speed for another 6-10 minutes, or until the frosting is white, shiny, and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract.

To assemble the cake:

1. Using a gentle sawing motion, carefully cut each of the two cakes in half horizontally to create four layers of cake.

2. Place the first layer of cake on a cake stand. Spread 1/3rd of the strawberry preserves on top of this cake layer and then top the preserves with 1/4th of the frosting. Repeat this step for the next two layers.

3. Place the final layer of cake on top of the first three layers and use the remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake. Gently press the coconut into the sides and top of the cake.

This cake is definitely best on the day that it is made, but it will keep for four or five days if you cover it up and store it in the fridge. Also, as you can see from the large number of steps in the recipe, this cake is a bit time consuming to put together. It's not really that hard to make; it just takes awhile. But trust me, with a cake this good, the effort is very much worth the reward.

Amish Friendship Bread

2010-02-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

In case you've never heard of it, Amish friendship bread is a delicious cinnamon-flavored quick bread that is made using a yeast starter. Generally, this yeast starter is passed among friends as if it were some sort of delicious chain letter. It works something like this: A friend gives you a ziploc bag filled with the yeast starter. Over the next ten days, you are expected to take good care of your little yeasties by squishing their bag daily and occasionally feeding them some flour, milk, and sugar. As you tend to it, your starter grows larger and larger and by the last day it is big enough to split into four new bags of starter. You are then supposed to keep one bag of starter and use it to make the bread and give the other three bags of starter away to your friends, thus continuing the delicious cycle.

One of my fiance's co-workers was giving away bags of starter a few weeks ago, and my fiance, knowing that I'm always up for a baking adventure, picked one up for me. Watching my yeast grow and multiply was actually kind of cool. I could tell how active the yeast were by how many little air bubbles they made in the starter, and they really went crazy right after I feed them for the first time. I have to admit, as I tended to my yeast and watched them grow, I kind of got attached to the little guys. It kind of felt like I had a low-maintenance, microscopic pet. Which I then baked into bread.... Oh dear...

Anyway, for my first batch of friendship bread, I decided to stick closely to the recipe that was attached to my bag of starter when I received it. The recipe went something like this:

Amish Friendship Bread

Bread:
1 c Amish friendship bread starter
3 eggs
1 c oil
1/2 c milk
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c (280g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large box (5.1 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 c raisins

Topping:
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat your oven to 325°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the starter, eggs, oil, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract until everything is well combined.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix. Add the starter mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir until the batter just barely comes together. Gently stir in the raisins.

3. To make the topping, whisk together the sugar and the cinnamon. Grease two loaf pans well, and then dust the greased pans using half of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the pans and then evenly sprinkle the remaining half of the cinnamon sugar over the top of the batter.

4. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a bread comes out clean. Allow the breads to cool in their pans for 10 minutes before turning them out on a wire rack to cool completely.

I have to warn you, the above recipe makes a lot of bread. I had to fill two mini loaf pans and a 9 x 9 cake pan to use up all my batter. I'm glad I ended up with so much though, because the resulting bread was really good! It was rich and moist and sweet and had a nice spicy cinnamon flavor. It actually reminded me a bit of cinnamon coffee cake, though it was lighter in texture. And, get this, the bread improved in both texture and flavor after it had sat out for a few days. Seriously, it was even better on day two than it was straight out of the oven!

Now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of those starters...

Madeleines

2010-02-01T05:18:00.000-08:00

For a long time now, I've known that while baking by myself is fun, baking with someone else is even more fun. But it is only recently that I learned that this truth still holds even if you and that someone else are baking in two separate kitchens that are hundreds of miles apart!

You see, for today's post, I've teamed up with Allison over at Bake your heart out. (Allison's blog is awesome by the way, so go check it out!) Allison and I were talking a little while ago and we discovered that both of us had been wanting to make madeleines for some time, but neither of us had ever gotten around to it. So then we thought, why not try making madeleines around the same time and blog about it together!

And so we did!

Madeleines, for those who don't know, are delicate little shell-shaped cookies that are popular in many parts of France. The unique shape of the madeleine makes them perfect for dipping and dunking in coffee and tea, as does their soft, cake-like texture.

Unfortunately, as you can see from my photo, the madeleines that I made over-browned a bit. This was my fault. I was using non-stick pans, which tend to brown things faster than regular pans, and I didn't keep a close eye on my oven. Oh well. I suppose if something tastes good, it doesn't matter what it looks like, right?

And boy did these taste good! They had a lovely honey and vanilla flavor and wonderful soft texture. They were at their best straight out of the oven, eaten while they were still moist and warm. They dried out a bit on the second day, but they were still really tasty when dunked in a glass of ice cold milk.

This recipe is adapted from the madeleine recipe found in Anita Chu's Field Guide to Cookies: How to Identify and Bake Virtually Every Cookie Imaginable:

Madeleines

4 eggs
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c (210 g) all purpose-flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
12 tbsp butter (melted and cooled)

1. Using a stand mixer fixed with the whisk attachment, whisk together the eggs, sugar, honey and vanilla until they are thick and foamy.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over the egg mixture and gently fold until everything is well combined. Gently fold in the melted butter.

3. Cover the finished batter and refrigerate it for at least eight hours.

4. Preheat your oven to 400° and grease your madeleine pans well.

5. Fill each cup of the madeleine pan 3/4ths of the way full with the batter. Bake 5-7 minutes or until the madelines are golden.

6. Allow the madelienes to cool in their pan for 2 minutes before you turn them out.

Before you go, be sure to check out Allison's madeleines! Thanks for the great choice Allison!

Corn Muffins

2010-01-29T09:18:00.000-08:00

During my middle and high school years, I was frequent maker of Jiffy Mix muffins. I was always so happy when I opened one of those cute little blue and white boxes of muffin mix, because I knew that after a little bit of mixing, and a little bit of baking, I would have warm, sweet muffins to munch upon. Back in those days, I tried out just about every flavor of Jiffy muffin mix, but the corn muffin mix was always my favorite. It always baked up so nice and golden brown and had a wonderful sweet corn flavor.

In many ways, the corn muffins that I made using the below recipe reminded me of those boxed mix muffins that I used to love so dearly. Like their boxed mix cousins, these "from scratch" corn muffins have a pleasantly grainy texture and are lightly sweet with just a bit of butteriness. Additionally, these muffins are every bit as easy to throw together as their Jiffy Mix counterparts. Seriously, grab two bowls, measure out your ingredients, stir a few times, fill your muffin pans and throw'em in the oven, and you're done!

And as much as I love my Jiffy Mix muffins, I have to say that these "from scratch" muffins are better. Their flavor is a bit fresher, their texture is a bit lighter, and their color is a bit more beautiful. Not to mention that they give me the satisfaction of knowing that I can make corn muffins from scratch. :)

This recipe is adapted from the corniest corn muffin recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From my home to yours. (Which my Mom got me for Christmas. Thanks Mom!):

Corn Muffins

1 c (140 g) all-purpose flour
1 c yellow corn meal
6 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
3 tbsp butter (melted and cooled)
3 tbsp corn oil
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 c corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

1. Preheat your oven to 400°.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, corn oil, egg, and egg yolk until everything is well combined. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and stir gently until everything just barely comes together. The batter is going to be lumpy. Gently stir in the corn kernels.

4. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 cups of a well greased muffin pan. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins in their pan for 5 minutes before turning them out on a wire rack to cool completely.

I ate these corn muffins the same way that I used to eat my Jiffy Mix muffins: Split in half, warmed, and topped with a light smear of butter and a drizzle of honey. However, if you want to go the savoury route, these muffins also pair well with a big bowl of hardy stew or spicy chili con carne. These muffins also freeze very well, so feel free to make a big batch and freeze some for later.

Maple Pecan Shortbread Cookies

2010-01-24T16:15:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! How's it going?

The fiance and I just got back from a three day road trip to Minnesota. We drove up to St. Paul on Thursday to see a Wings/Wild game and then spent the next few days hanging out with one of our old college buddies. (It's the same guy that we visited over Thanksgiving, by the way.)

The game was really awesome. Because both my fiance and I were born and raised in the Detroit metro area, we're both hardcore, life-long Red Wings fans, and it was such a treat to get to see them play live. The game was a real nail bitter too, with the Wings winning in a sudden death shootout.

Anyway, our trip didn't leave me any time for baking this weekend, so I'm going to pull a recipe from the "Stuff-that-I-made-and-photographed-awhile-ago-but-haven't-blogged-about-yet" pile. And thus I present to you these maple pecan shortbread cookies:

This recipe is adapted from the maple-pecan shortbread cookie recipe over at Piece of Cake:

Maple Pecan Shortbread Cookies

1 1/2 c pecan halves
1/4 c turbinado sugar
2 1/4 c (315 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 c (65 g) cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 c butter (room temperature)
3/4 c sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 c pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg white (lightly beaten)

1. Place the pecan halves in a food processor and pulse until the pecans are finely chopped. Place 1 cup of the chopped pecans into a medium-sized bowl and set aside. Pulse the remaining pecans in the food processor a few more times until they are finely ground. (Be careful not to over-process the pecans or you will end up with pecan butter! Which, while delicious, is not very good for this recipe!)

2. In a small bowl, mix the finely ground pecans with the turbinado sugar. Set aside.

3. Add the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt to the bowl that contains the 1 cup of chopped pecans and whisk everything together to combine.

4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and beat until everything is well combined. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture until it is well incorporated.

5. Shape the finished cookie dough into two logs that are about 8 inches long each. Wrap these logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least an hour and a half.

6. Preheat your oven to 350º. Cut 1/4 inch thick slices off of the cookie dough logs and arrange them on an ungreased baking sheet, leaving about an inch between each cookie.

7. Brush the top of each cookie with the beaten egg white and then generously sprinkle them with the pecan/sugar mixture that you set aside earlier. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies are golden around the edges.

These delightful cookies are nutty and crunchy and perfectly sweet. The maple flavor in these cookies is mild but noticeable and adds some nice depth to these buttery treats. These cookies also keep for more than a week in an airtight container, so they are ideal if you are looking for a cookie to ship to loved ones that live far away.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2010-01-16T11:20:00.000-08:00

If there's one thing that I've discovered since starting this baking hobby of mine, it's that I love adding fresh and local fruits and vegetables to my culinary creations. Whether it's sweet, juicy blueberries in my coffee cake, or spicy, crunchy jalapeños in my cornbread, I've found that nothing improves the flavor and texture of my baked good more than the addition of some seasonal, local produce.

Living in Wisconsin, I'm lucky enough to have access to a wide variety of locally grown fruits and veggies all throughout the spring, summer, and fall. During the winter however, things get a little rough on the local produce front. This time of the year, if I want fresh and local produce I'm pretty much limited to root vegetables. Ya know. Things like onions, and shallots, and sweet potatoes.

So you'll have to forgive me if I make a lot of sweet potato recipes this month. Fresh, pureed sweet potato is an excellent addition to a wide array of baked goods, and sweet potato is the only thing that's "in season" right now. Give me a month or two and I'll be back to strawberries and spinach, I swear. :)

Anyway, this was my first time ever making biscuits, and I think I did a really good job. My biscuits rose nicely and they were really soft and fluffy. The whole biscuit making process was a little tricky, but it came very naturally to me. I promise that I'll put up a biscuit making photo tutorial sometime in the future.

This recipes is adapted from Paula Deen's sweet potato biscuit recipe:

Sweet Potato Biscuits

1 1/4 c (175 g) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c cold butter (cut into small pieces)
3/4 c sweet potato puree (fresh or canned)
2 to 4 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter (melted)

1. Preheat your oven to 450°. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

2. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a course meal and no pieces of butter larger than a pea remain.

3. In a small bowl, mix the sweet potato and 2 tbsp of milk together until smooth. Gently stir the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture until the dough just barely comes together. If you find that the dough is too dry to work with, gently stir in another tablespoon or two of milk.

4. Turn out the biscuit dough onto a well floured surface. Gently knead the dough once or twice to finish the mixing process. Be careful not to overwork the dough or your biscuit will come out tough. Pat the dough to a 1/2 inch thickness and use a biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits.

5. Carefully place your biscuits onto a well greased baking sheet. Brush the top of each biscuit with the melted butter. Bake for 15 minutes or until the biscuits have risen and browned slightly.

With their lovely texture and mild sweet potato flavor, these biscuits are tasty and versatile. Drizzled them with a little honey and they make a great breakfast. Split them in half and add a little store bought pulled pork and some thinly sliced red onion and you have an amazing lunch: Yum!

Red Onion, Broccoli, and Mozzarella Quiche

2010-01-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

With all the sweets and desserts that I've featured on this blog lately, I figured that it was about time I write about something savoury! And what better savoury dish to feature than quiche!

Quiche is one of my favorite breakfast foods. Consisting of a silky egg and cream filling that is nestled in a flaky, buttery pie crust, quiche is a rich, hardy, and satisfying food, making it the perfect way to start the day.

What's even better is that quiche is practically a magnet for left-overs. Seriously, you can mix in just about anything into a quiche and it will be delicious. Got some left over ham? Throw it in a quiche. Need to use up those green onions before they go bad? Throw them in a quiche. Need something to do with the last of those red peppers you bought on sale last week? Throw them in a quiche. You get the picture.

For the below quiche I decided to use broccoli, red onion, and aged mozzarella cheese for my mix-ins. I did this partially because I happen to have all three ingredients on hand, and partially because I love how the fresh crunch of the broccoli pairs with the spicy bite of the red onions and the milky flavor of the mozzarella.

This recipe is a Daydreams of Baking original, but it was inspired by the instructions for making a basic quiche that I found here:

Red Onion, Broccoli, and Mozzarella Quiche

1 unbaked all butter pie crust or a unbaked store bought crust
3 eggs (beaten)
1 1/2 c heavy cream
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 c broccoli florets (cut into bite sized pieces)
1/2 c red onion (chopped)
3/4 c mozzarella cheese (shredded)

1. Preheat your oven to 425°. Place the pie crust in the oven and pre-bake it for about 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, paprika, salt, and pepper until well combined. Add the broccoli, red onion, and mozzarella and stir to coat. Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust.

3. Bake the quiche for 40-45 minutes or until the filling has puffed up and browned slightly.

Blueberry Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies

2010-01-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a bit over a week since the new year began. Are you still keeping up with your New Year's diet?

I'm gonna let you in on a secret. For most of my life I was fat. I mean, I was never morbidly obese or anything, but there were definitely points in my life where my BMI was over 30. Not very healthy, to say the least.

But then, about two or three years ago, my fiance and I decided that we didn't want to be fat anymore. There was no epiphany or life changing event that prompted this. We were just talking one day and agreed that being fat sucked and that we wanted do something about it.

And so we did.

Inspired by the Hacker's Diet, I started limiting my calorie intake to between 1,400 and 1,700 a day. I allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted, but I forced myself not to exceed my daily calorie limit. This method totally worked for me. Over about a year period, I lost just about 40 pounds. The fiance lost about 20 pounds the same way. And while I've gained and lost five or so pounds here and there since I stopped the diet, I've never been anywhere near my original fatness.

And if there is one thing that dieting taught me, it's that, if you play it smart, you never have to give up flavor for the sake of reducing calories. Take these breakfast cookies for example: If you don't make any changes to the below recipe, these breakfast cookies are about 200 calories each. Eat one of these cookies with a cold glass of skim milk, and you have a divine breakfast for under 300 calories.

And trust me, these yummy, muffin-like cookies do NOT taste like a diet food. They're dense and moist and absolutely delicious. They are delicately sweet and have a wonderful, mild sweet potato flavor that is perfectly balanced by a generous amount of warm spices. The dried blueberries are also a nice contrast to the sweet potato base, adding a juicy, chewy burst of bright berry flavor. It's so good and so good for you!

This recipe was inspired by the pumpkin cookie recipe over at Joy the Baker's blog:

Blueberry Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies

2 c (280 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 c sugar
1/2 c canola oil
1 c sweet potato puree (fresh or canned)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c sweetened dried blueberries

1. Move a rack to the middle of your oven and preheat it to 325°.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until they lighten in color. Add the oil, sweet potato, and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently stir them together by hand until the dough is just barely combined. Gently stir in the blueberries.

5. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, measure out 1/4 cup mounds of dough and place them 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. I was able to fit 6 cookies on my standard sized baking sheet.

6. Bake the cookies for 16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

2010-01-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

Aren't these football-shaped sugar cookies cute? I made them this week to commemorate my fantasy football victory! That's right folks, I took first place in my fantasy football league. And this was my first year playing fantasy football too!

Actually, the only reason I started playing fantasy football this year was because my fiance started a league with his co-workers, and he needed one extra person so that the number of teams would be even. At the time, I thought that the whole fantasy sports thing was kind of silly, but my fiance really wanted to play, so I joined the league to help him out. But then, after a few weeks of playing, I was totally hooked! Picking players, setting my lineup, watching the point roll in; it was all so much fun! Not to mention the fact that fantasy football actually got me to care about games outside my division.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I fought hard all season and finally emerged victorious! (Having both Chris Johnson and Peyton Manning on my team helped quite a bit. :P) And so to celebrate, and maybe even to gloat a bit, I made these cookies for all of my defeated opponents.

The above cookies are decorated with my favorite chocolate buttercream frosting. I love this frosting. It's rich and buttery and has a nice chocolaty overtone. And it's so simple to make! Seriously, make this frosting just once and you'll never buy canned chocolate frosting ever again.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

3 c (345 g) powdered sugar
1/4 c (21 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tbsp butter (room temperature)
1/4 c 2% milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, beat together all ingredients until smooth.

Cranberry Sweet Potato Coffee Cake

2010-01-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010 everyone!

Don't you just love New Year's Day? It always feels so fresh and new and exciting. I mean, it's a whole new decade now, filled with possibility! This newborn year is a blank canvas on which we can paint all of our hopes and dreams. Isn't that exhilarating?

I plan on filling this new year with lots and lots of baking. I really want to practice my baking skills over the next 365 days, so that I can get even better at this delicious hobby of mine! I also want to try lots of new recipes, so that I can experience all sorts of new flavors. So with that in mind, let me start off this brand new year with a brand new recipe for cranberry sweet potato coffee cake!

I really love this cake. It's dense and moist, and the sweet and earthy flavor of the sweet potato really shines through. Before baking, this cake is topped with a cinnamon and ginger streusel, which gives the cake a little crunch and a nice spicy and sugary kick. In addition, this cake studded with sweetened dried cranberries. These cranberries are like sweet, tart, juicy, little jewels and really take this cake over the top. Let me tell you, this recipe is a keeper!

This recipe is adapted from the sweet potato coffee cake recipe over at Baking Bites:

Cranberry Sweet Potato Coffee Cake

Streusel:
1/4 c butter (room temperature)
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Cake:
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c butter (room temperature)
1 c sugar
2 eggs (room temperature)
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c sweet potato puree (fresh or canned)
1/3 c sweetened dried cranberries

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. To make the streusel topping, mix together the butter, flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla together in a small bowl until moist, sandy crumbs form. Set aside.

3. To make the cake, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the oil and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add the sweet potato and beat until well combined. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until everything is well combined. Stir in the dried cranberries by hand.

5. Evenly spread the finished cake batter around the bottom of a lightly greased 9 x 9 cake pan. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the cake batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Spritz Cookies

2009-12-29T17:50:00.000-08:00

So, how was everyone's Christmas time? Did you get to spend a lot of time with your friends and family? Did you eat lots of good food? Get any good presents?

I know that for me, Christmas this year was busy, busy, busy! Seriously, I was all over the place last week. Over the course of seven days, I attended two family Christmas parties, watched some football at B Dubs with the old man, caught two movies at the theater, ate a plate of the world's best fettucine alfredo, spent an entire day baking sugar cookies with an adorable two and a half year old, and still somehow managed to squeeze in a few hours at Pinball Pete's.

And you know what fueled me throughout my busy Christmassy week?

Sugar. I was fueled by lots and lots of sugar.

Sugar in the form of homemade strawberry fudge, and store-bought German chocolate cake, and spritz cookies. Lots of sparkly spritz cookies.

In case you didn't know, spritz cookies are small, crunchy, slightly sweet butter cookies that are shaped using a cookie press. They aren't overly rich or heavy like a lot of other Christmas desserts, which makes them a nice change of pace during the holiday season. I decorated the above cookies with a generous sprinkling of sanding sugar to enhance their sweetness and give them some festive color.

This recipe is adapted from Wilton's classic spritz cookie recipe:

Spritz Cookies

3 1/2 c (490 g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 c butter (room temperature)
1 c sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract
sanding sugar for decorating

1. Preheat your oven to 350º.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg, milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract and beat until well combined. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture until they are well combine.

4. Using your cookie press, press cookies onto an ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle the cookies with the sanding sugar. Bake the cookies 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.

If your looking for a cookie press, I recommend this model. It's cheap, easy to clean, and gets the job done quite nicely. I got mine for $5 at a garage sale last summer and I love the thing to death.

Chocolate Nut Cookies

2009-12-21T07:03:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! It's time for my December edition of Magazine Mondays! For those of you who don't know, Magazine Mondays is a fun, informal blogging event hosted by Ivonne over at Cream Puffs in Venice. Every Monday she picks out a recipe from among her backlog of magazine clippings give it a try, encouraging other bloggers to the same! If you want to see what it's all about, you can check out some past Magazine Mondays by clicking here.

Anyway, for my second Magazine Mondays post, I made the above-pictured chocolaty mounds. Women's Day calls these guys chocolate nut cookies, but personally I think a more appropriate name would be nutty brownie blobs. I mean, seriously, these "cookies" really are nothing more than round cake-style brownies.

Just like a good cake brownie, these chocolate nut cookies have an intense chocolate flavor and sweet, moist interiors. The sweetness of these cookies is balanced out nicely by the savoriness imparted by the generous amount of toasted nuts that are stirred into the batter right before baking. The nuts also give these brownies a nice crunch and a cute, chunky appearance.

This recipe is adapted from the chocolate nut cookies recipe found in the December 1, 2009 issue of Women's Day magazine:

Chocolate Nut Cookies

1/2 c (70 g) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 oz bittersweet chocolate (chopped)
1/4 c butter (cut into pieces)
2 eggs
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c almonds (toasted and chopped)
3/4 c pecans (toasted and chopped)
1 c chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 325°.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt together the chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Let this mixture cool slightly.

4. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the sugar and eggs until they are pale yellow and slightly thickened. (About 5 minutes.) Beat in the vanilla. Beat in the chocolate mixture. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the toasted nuts and chocolate chips by hand.

5. Drop rounded tablespoons of the finished dough unto a lightly greased baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are puffed, shiny, and slightly cracked.

Despite the fact that these cookies were really good, I don't think I'll be making them again. They are just way too similar to brownies, and I think that making brownies is less work than making these cookies. That said, if you really want your brownies to be cute, chucky, and round, than this recipe is the way to go!

Molasses Cookies

2009-12-14T18:01:00.000-08:00

Are you excited for Christmas yet? I know that I am! I've got all my decorations up, all my shopping done, and I've been listening to Christmas music at work all week! It's really got me in the spirit, ya know?

And you know what else has got me in the spirit? Christmas baking. Seriously, what is it about Christmas that puts me in such a baking mood? I swear I've been turning out candies and cookies almost non-stop over the last few days. It's been so much fun and I've made some really good stuff, like these molasses cookies.

Speaking of which, I can honestly say that these are, hands down, the most beautiful cookies that I have ever made. I mean, they're so perfectly round! And just look at those wonderful crackled tops! And if that weren't enough, these cookies are coated in sugar which gives them a beautiful, delicate sparkle. So pretty!

And the best part? These cookies taste just as good as they look! They have a deep, rich molasses flavor and a warm, spicy note of cinnamon. Combine this with their chewy-on-the-inside, crunchy-on-the-outside texture and you have a perfect cookie for Christmas!

This recipe is adapted from the molasses cookie recipe over at Joy of Baking:

Molasses Cookies

2 c (270 g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 c butter (room temperature)
1 c brown sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/3 c molasses
1 egg (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c sugar

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the oil, molasses, egg, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until they are well combined.

5. Wrap the finished dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least two hours.

6. Place the sugar into a small bowl. Take the chilled dough and roll it into walnut sized balls. Roll each ball in the sugar until it is well coated.

7. Place the sugar coated dough balls onto a ungreased baking sheet, leaving two inches between each ball. Flatten each dough ball slightly using the bottom of a glass.

8. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until the tops of the cookies start to crack.

Peppermint Bark

2009-12-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

Well folks, it's official. The Christmas baking and candy making season has begun in my kitchen. I've broken out the Christmas-shaped cookie cutters, cracked open the holiday-colored nonpareils, and this past weekend I went out and bought more white chocolate than one person should legally be allowed to own. Yes sirree, from now until the end of December, my kitchen is going to be a continuous whirlwind of sugar, flour, butter, and chocolate. And this here peppermint bark, well, it is just the first of many delicious things that will be pouring out of my kitchen over the next few weeks.

Mmm, peppermint bark. Such a simple but delicious confection. This particular peppermint bark is made up of a luscious base of semi-sweet chocolate that is topped with a beautiful layer of white chocolate which is then topped by a generous sprinkling of crushed candy canes. Simple, but so good. The crunchiness of the candy canes contrasts nicely with the smoothness of the chocolate and the combination of the bitterness of the semi-sweet chocolate, the vanilla drenched sweetness of the white chocolate, and cooling peppermint flavor of the candy canes is just wonderful. It really tastes like the holidays!

This recipe is adapted from the peppermint bark recipe over at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody:

Peppermint Bark

15 oz semi-sweet chocolate
15 oz white chocolate
1/2 c candy canes (crushed)

1. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Temper the semi-sweet chocolate. Dump the tempered chocolate onto the waxed paper and then use a rubber spatula to gently spread the chocolate into a layer that is about 1/8 of an inch thick. Allow this layer to harden.

2. While the semi-sweet chocolate layer is hardening, temper the white chocolate. Spread the tempered white chocolate evenly over the hardened semi-sweet chocolate layer and then immediately sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the white chocolate.

3. Gently press down the crushed candy canes so that they will stick in the white chocolate. Allow the bark to harden completely and then break it into uneven pieces.

As a side note, I found that six normal sized candy canes came out to just over half a cup when crushed. Also, this bark makes a great holiday gift, so I recommend packing some of it up in a pretty Christmas tin and giving it to your friends and family!

Cinnamon Chip Sweet Potato Buttermilk Muffins

2009-12-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that I've been writing on this blog for over three months now and I still haven't posted anything about muffins. I mean, I LOVE muffins! They're practically the perfect breakfast food. They're portable, pre-portioned, require no heating, and are so very tasty! They're sugary enough to sate a sweet tooth, yet they won't give you a sugar buzz like some other breakfast pastries. On top of that, muffins have this moist yet light texture is hardy and satisfying but not too heavy. In short, muffins are awesome!

These particular muffins came into being after I peeked in my fridge and I saw that I had both buttermilk and sweet potatoes leftover from Thanksgiving. Hoping to use both items before they went bad, I typed "buttermilk" and "sweet potato" into Google and hidden among the many results that were returned was a recipe for buttermilk sweet potato muffins. I altered the original recipe a little bit, substituting some spices and adding in a few handfuls of cinnamon chips.

The resulting muffins were awesome! They were moist and sweet and studded with little pockets of cinnamon goodness. The sweet potato provided a soft, fruity background flavor that contrasted nicely with the warmth of the cinnamon and nutmeg. Needless to say, I'll definitely be baking these muffins again in the future.

This recipe is adapted from the buttermilk sweet potato muffin recipe over at Kitchen Notes:

Cinnamon Chip Sweet Potato Buttermilk Muffins

2 c (280 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2 eggs
3/4 c brown sugar (packed)
1 c buttermilk
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c butter (melted)
1 c sweet potato puree (fresh or canned)
3/4 c cinnamon chips

1. Preheat your oven to 375°.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and brown sugar until they are smooth. Add the buttermilk, honey, and vanilla and whisk until everything is well combined. Slowly whisk in the melted butter. Stir in the sweet potato.

4. Add the flour mixture to the sweet potato mixture and gently stir until the two just barely come together. Gently fold in the cinnamon chips.

5. Grease a muffin pan and fill each cup 3/4ths full with the muffin batter. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Sweet Potato Puree

2009-12-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

Isn't it amazing how our first experience with a new food can affect how we view that food for the rest of our lives? Let's take sweet potatoes for example:

A lot of people first experience sweet potato in the form of a marshmallow topped abomination with the flavor and consistency of glue. I can't tell you how many stories I've heard where this incorrectly cooked sweet potato mush was so horrible that it caused someone to refuse to eat the tuber ever again.

On the other hand, my first experience with sweet potato was in the form of a rich and delicious sweet potato casserole. With it's silky, sweet, and almost custard like filling, one bite of this casserole and I was hooked on sweet potatoes for the rest of my life.

When properly used in baked goods, sweet potato has many of the same properties as pumpkin. Like pumpkin, sweet potato adds lots of moisture to baked goods while at the same time infusing them with a sweet and delicately fruity flavor and a beautiful orange color. And like pumpkin, sweet potato is packed with vitamins and minerals, making it a great way to sneak a little nutrition into your dessert.

Making your own sweet potato puree is quick and easy, and way less expensive than buying canned sweet potato. On top of that, homemade puree has a way fresher flavor than its canned counterpart. Below are step-by-step instructions for making your own sweet potato puree. This puree can be substituted, cup for cup, in any recipe that calls for canned sweet potato.

1. Pick out some sweet potatoes. You want to look for potatoes that are heavy for their size and are free of bruises and soft spots. These potatoes look just right:

2. Peel your sweet potatoes and cut them into evenly sized chunks. Put a steamer basket into a large pot and fill the pot with water, making sure that the water does not touch the basket part of the steamer basket. Place the potato chunks into the pot.

3. Cover the pot and steam the sweet potatoes over high heat until they can be easily pierced with a fork. My potatoes took about 15 minutes to steam. Allow the potatoes to cool enough to handle them, and then place them in a large bowl.

4. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or large fork until they are smooth. You now have your very own homemade sweet potato puree! You can store your puree covered in the refrigerator for a day or two until you are ready to use it, or you can put your puree in a plastic freezer bag and freeze it for up to six months.

Cookie Dough Truffles

2009-11-30T11:57:00.000-08:00

If you'd indulge me for just a moment, I'd like to talk about my favorite kitchen gadget. I found it on eBay about a year and a half ago, and despite the fact that it is kind of a specialized piece of equipment, I find myself using it again and again. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to my beloved chocolate tempering machine:

Isn't it pretty? :)

For those of you that don't know, tempering is a process of heating and cooling chocolate that ensures that the finished chocolate has the best possible texture and shine. Most home cooks have to go through a long and tedious process in order to ensure that their chocolate is properly tempered. I, on the other hand, let this pretty little machine do all the work of tempering my chocolate for me.

My machine is a ChocoVision Revolation 1, which is basically a low end model designed for home use. It has a 1.5 pound capacity and sports some very simple controls. And it makes tempering chocolate so easy! I just put in some chocolate, set the controls to the right type (white, milk, or dark) and press start! When the chocolate is tempered the machine beeps to let me know that it is done. It tempers my chocolate perfectly every time!

I've used this machine to temper chocolate for all kinds of things. I've made adorable chocolate-coated pretzel rods, yummy chocolate-dipped pecans, and professional looking chocolate-covered strawberries. On top of that, I've used my tempering machine to make tons of molded chocolates and delicious truffles. Take these beautiful cookie dough truffles for example:

This recipe is adapted from Paula Deen's cookie dough truffle recipe:

Cookie Dough Truffles

1/4 c butter (room temperature)
3/8 c brown sugar (packed)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c (140 g) all-purpose flour
7 oz sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c semisweet mini chocolate chips
12 oz chocolate or candy coating

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until they are light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla extract. Gradually beat in the flour until it is well combined. Add the sweetened condensed milk and beat until the cookie dough is smooth. Mix in the chocolate chips by hand.

2. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. With floured hands, roll the cookie dough into small balls and place them on the baking sheet. Move the cookie dough balls to the refrigerator and allow them to chill for at least 2 hours.

3. While the dough balls are chilling, temper the chocolate or melt the candy coating. Coat each cookie dough ball by dipping it into the chocolate/candy and then setting it back on the baking sheet to harden.

If you love cookie dough, then these are the truffles for you! The cookie dough filling of these truffles tastes just like the real thing. It's sweet and buttery and has a hint of raw flour taste hidden within a strong vanilla undertone. The filling is smooth and creamy except for a slightly grainy texture that is imparted by the uncooked sugar. Pair that sandy yet silky filling with a shell of well-tempered chocolate and you get a truffle that is absolutely divine!

Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce

2009-11-26T17:51:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had a recipe that just screamed out "MAKE ME NOW!" ? That's totally what happened with me and this cranberry sauce.

I saw this recipe on the Food Network a few days ago, and I just had to make it. I love cranberries, and the idea of adding cinnamon and apples to a cranberry sauce sounded so very good. On top of that, I just randomly happen to have all the ingredients needed to make this sauce just lying around my house! Really, how could I not make it?

And you know what? This cranberry sauce turned out even better than I was hoping. Imagine perfectly tender chunks of apple and cranberry bathed in a sweet and tart and fruity syrup. Add to this a spicy hint of cinnamon, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what this sauce is like. Seriously, this is good stuff.

This recipe is adapted from Big Daddy's cinnamon apple cranberry sauce:

Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce

2 c cranberry juice
6 oz sweetened dried cranberries
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 c sugar
2 apples (peeled, cored, and diced)
2 tsp corn starch

1. In a medium sauce pan, bring the cranberry juice, dried cranberries, cinnamon, and sugar to a boil. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

2. Add the apples and then continue to cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove approximately one cup of the liquid from the sauce pan and place it in a small bowl. Whisk the cornstarch into this liquid. Slowly whisk this cornstarch mixture back into the sauce pan. Cook the mixture over medium heat for another 5 minutes or until the apples are tender.

4. Pour the finished sauce into a heat-proof serving bowl, cover, and refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving.

This sauce was really quick to whip up. Seriously, I finished the whole thing in under 30 minutes. Additionally, this sauce can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge for a day or two.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope your turkey day is filled with friends, family, and good food!

The Blunder Files #2: Canadian Butter Tarts

2009-11-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I was about due.

Considering the fact that the last 15 recipes that I've made for this blog have all turned out beautifully on the first try, I was about due for a complete and total disaster. And this was it.

The above pictured monstrosities were supposed to be Canadian butter tarts. They ended up being completely inedible blobs of watery scrambled egg-like goo encased in pastry.

You see, somewhere during the baking process, the egg in the butter tart filling completely separated out from the rest of the ingredients and settled to the bottom of each tart. The sugar and butter, meanwhile, rose to the top of each tart and then slowly spilled over the edge of my tart pans and onto the bottom of my oven. This runaway butter and sugar syrup subsequently burnt to a crisp, filling my kitchen with a thick cloud of smoke. Ugh. Not fun.

Anyway, I have a two theories as to what went wrong with these tarts:

First of all, I did end up making one ingredient substitution when I was putting the filling together. The recipe called for light cream, but since I didn't have any, I used 2% milk instead. It's entirely possible that this switcheroo changed the fat to liquid ratio of my filling just enough to turn my tarts into train wrecks.

Secondly it's quite possible that I simply didn't thoroughly beat the eggs into the other ingredients. This would explain why they separated out so easily. It's a simple mistake, but one that could potentially be the reason for my terrible tarts.

On the bright side, my tart crusts came out really good, even if the filling was all kinds of ick. I also used some of the left-over crust from this recipe to make a cute little apple tart, so at least I got something out of all my hard work:

Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

2009-11-16T15:05:00.000-08:00

Every year, on November 1st, my fiance and I perform what I like to call our Annual Halloween Candy Raid. During this "raid", we hit all the major stores within a twenty mile radius of our home and purchase piles and piles of 50% off Halloween candy.

Amid our frenzy of confection consumerism, I always keep an eye out for candy that I can use for my various baking projects. This year I managed to pick up two huge bags of Halloween wrapped Hershey's Kisses, which, in the coming months, will be de-wraped, melted, tempered, and used to coat pecans, preztel rods, and perhaps even shortbread cookies. I also grabbed a bag of half-off Reese Pieces, which will probably find their way into a big patch of peanut butter cookies before the year is over.

Last but not least, I also bought a bunch of Whoppers. You know, those chocolate covered malted milk ball candies. Ya see, I saw this recipe for chocolate malted whopper drops over on Confessions of a Tangerine Tart a little while ago and since I'm a huge malt fan, I had to try them out!

This recipe is orignally from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. (A book that is totally on my Christmas wishlist, by the way.)

Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

1 3/4 c (245 g) all-purpose flour
1 c malted milk powder
1/4 c (21 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
11 tbsp butter (room temperature)
2/3 c sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c milk
2 c malted milk balls (coarsely chopped)
1 c chocolate chips

1. Move one rack to the top third of your oven and another rack to the bottom third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, malted milk powder, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. Cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Mix in the vanilla. (Don't worry if the mixture looks curdled at this point.)

4. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until the flour mixture disappears. Stir in the milk. Add the remaining flour mixture and stir until the cookie dough is smooth. (The dough will resemble fudge frosting at this point.) Stir in the chocolate chips and malted milk balls by hand.

5. Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough onto ungreased baking sheets, leaving two inches of space between each cookie. Bake the cookies two baking sheets at a time, placing one baking sheet on the upper oven rack and the other baking sheet on the lower oven rack. Bake the cookies for 6 minutes and then rotate the positions of the two baking sheets. Continue baking the cookies for another 6 minutes.

6. Allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring them to a wire rack to cook completely.

I really like these cookies. They have a soft, cake-like texture and a strong malt-meets-chocolate flavor. As if that wasn't enough, these cookies are also studded with yummy pockets of chocolate and partially caramelized whopper candies, giving them a sweet taste and a big n' chunky appearance. All-in-all, these are the perfect cookies to partner with a big glass of cold milk.

Macadamia Coconut Meltaways

2009-11-13T14:21:00.000-08:00

Last year, as one of my Christmas presents, my mother got me a subscription to Women's Day magazine. I admit, I was a bit puzzled by this at the time, as I've never really been a magazine kind of person. But when I received my first issue, I was surprised to find that I rather enjoyed flipping through the colorful pages. I mean, yeah, Women's Day has way too many ads. And I usually skip straight through the entire "style" section. But the health section is interesting and informative, and the magazine often contains useful money savings tips, so I keep on reading it.

Anyway, in the back of every issue of Woman's Day, there is a food section that contains about a dozen recipes. Some of these recipes are things I would never make. (What? You want me to use canned frosting! Blasphemy!) However, there are usually one or two recipes in each issue that I think look really good. I've been receiving Women's Day for just about a year now, so as you can imagine, I've amassed a decent sized pile of recipe clippings by this point.

A month or two ago, I found out that Ivonne over at Cream Puffs in Venice runs a cute, informal blogging event called Magazine Mondays. Every Monday, she makes a recipe from one of the many magazines she has bookmarked and encourages other bloggers to do the same. When I saw this event, I thought it would be a fun way to whittle down my recipe clippings pile, and as such, I've decided to participate at least once a month.

So, for my first Magazine Monday post, I've decided to make these macadamia coconut meltaways from the November 17, 2009 issue of Women's Day:

Macadamia Coconut Meltaways

1 c macadamia nuts
1 c (115 g) powdered sugar (plus some extra for dusting)
1 c sweetened flaked coconut
1 c butter (room temperature)
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 c (280 g) all-purpose flour

1. In a food processor, pulse 1/4 c (29 g) of the powdered sugar and the macadamia nuts a few times to chop the nuts. Add the coconut and continue pulsing until the mixture is finely ground. Do NOT overprocess the coconut/macadamia mixture or you'll end up with nut paste. (Which is yummy, but not good for this recipe.)

2. Cream the butter and the remaining 3/4 c (86 g) of powdered sugar until smooth. Mix in the vanilla extract and the macadamia mixture.

3. Whisk the salt and flour together in a small bowl. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture until a soft dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

4. Preheat your oven to 325°. Shape the dough into walnut sized balls and space them evenly on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 16 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are dry and the bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

I like these cookies quite a bit. They have a nice crunch when you first bite into them, but as you chew they quickly dissolve in your mouth, leaving behind a pleasant vanilla and coconut flavor. Don't skip the dusting of powdered sugar: These cookies are not quite sweet enough without it.

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

2009-11-09T15:12:00.000-08:00

Ever since I moved to Wisconsin, I've made it a point to mail my family back in Michigan a box of edible treats every Thanksgiving. I figure that if I can't physically be there to celebrate the holiday with them, I can at least try to make up for it by sending them package full of yummy things. I think of it as a consolation prize for my absence. ;)

Normally I just ordered my family a gift tin from Cheryl and Co, but this year I thought it would be nice if I filled a box with homemade treats instead. And since cranberries are so closely associate with Thanksgiving, I decided that one of the items in my Turkey Day treat box should be these white chocolate and cranberry cookies.

These cookies are another take on the classic Toll House cookie recipe. Like all Toll House cookies, these cookies are sweet and buttery with crunchy edges and soft chewy centers. In this recipe, the tartness of the cranberries is balanced nicely by the smooth vanilla flavor of the white chocolate. The two flavors are further enhanced by the addition of a generous amount of almond extract, which give the cookies a bit of a fruity and floral aroma.

One last note: Make sure that you use sweetened dried cranberries for this recipe, as unsweetened cranberries would be a bit too tart.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

2 1/4 c (295 g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c butter (room temperature)
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar (packed)
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract
1 c white chocolate chips
1 c sweetened dried cranberries

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.

4. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips and cranberries by hand.

5. Drop rounded tablespoons of the cookie dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.

Oatmeal Scotchies

2009-11-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

Oatmeal scotchies are truly the cookie of my childhood. I have such fond memories of my mother baking up plate-fulls of these delicious treats for me and my brother and our friends. My Mom always made her scotchies with such care and pride, and she was always so happy when we gobbled them up. They were truly cookies made with love.

Don't let the humble appearance of these cookies fool you. They may look plain, but they are packed full of flavor. Oatmeal scotchies are sweet and buttery and have just a hint of cinnamon and salt. The ultra sweetness of the butterscotch chips melds beautifully with nutty earthiness of the oatmeal. And when properly baked, these cookies have crispy caramelized edges and moist chewy centers. In short, they're really good cookies!

This recipe is adapted from the oatmeal scotchie recipe on Nestle's Very Best Baking website:

Oatmeal Scotchies

1 1/4 c (175 g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 c butter
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 c uncooked old-fashioned oats
1 2/3 c butterscotch chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

4. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until well combined. Mix in the oats. Stir in the butterscotch chips by hand.

5. Drop rounded tablespoons of the cookie dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.

Maple Pecan Pie

2009-11-03T17:07:00.000-08:00

Whenever I see the word November on my calendar, I always think about Thanksgiving.

Since I live pretty far away from the parents nowadays, I haven't been able to visit the folks for Thanksgiving for the last couple of years. Instead, the fiance and I have been driving up to the Twin Cities and having Thanksgiving dinner with one of our college friends and his family.

Now I know that spending Thanksgiving with a friend's family instead of your own is a little unorthodox, but it's better than just sitting at home sulking. Which is totally what I would be doing if we didn't make our yearly Turkey Day trip to Minnesota. Plus, the Nelsons are really cool people to hang out with and always have great stories. Highly entertaining. Oh yeah, they also make this super awesome cranberry and whipped cream dessert. It's all kinds of yum. So, while I still wish I could spend Thanksgiving with my family, feasting with a friend's family is a happy alternative.

When I join the Nelson family for Thanksgiving, I always bring a pie. A pecan pie. Which, as you know, is the best kind of pie. I usually use my Mom's fantastic corn syrup based recipe, but this year I decided that I wanted to change things up a bit and try this maple syrup based recipe.

This recipe is adapted from the maple pecan pie recipe over at Baking Bites:

Maple Pecan Pie

1 c maple syrup
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp butter (melted and cooled)
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 c pecans
1 unbaked all butter pie crust or a unbaked store bought crust

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, brown sugar, sugar, eggs, butter, flour, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Stir in the pecans.

3. Pour the pecan mixture into the unbaked pie crust. Place the pie on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 1 hour or until the center of the pie is set.

I really like this pie. Like a corn syrup based pecan pie, this pie has a silky, caramel-like filling that is topped by a nutty, crunchy layer of pecans. However, unlike the corn syrup version, this pie has a wonderfully robust maple flavor that greatly complements the pie's sweetness. It really takes pecan pie to the next level.

On the down side, this pie is really expensive to make. The maple syrup needed to make this pie costs about $5. For comparison, the corn syrup needed for my Mom's pecan pie recipe costs about 30¢. As such, I'm only going to make this maple pecan pie for very special occasions and use the corn syrup based recipe for everyday desserting.

Halloween Peanut Butter Cups

2009-10-31T09:22:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is here, and since I moved into a brand new condo over the summer, I might actually get some trick-or-treaters this year! I hope I get at least a couple, 'cause I love handing out candy. It's just so much fun to see all those cute little kids in their adorable costumes. Plus, it gives me an excuse to wear a fun costume myself! And maybe munch on some of these homemade, Halloween-shaped, peanut butter cups...

This recipe is adapted from a buckeye candy recipe:

Halloween Peanut Butter Cups

1 1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c butter (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 c (460 g) powdered sugar (sifted)
12 oz chocolate OR candy coating

1. In a large bowl, beat together the peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar until well combined. The mixture will look a little dry.

2. Temper the chocolate or melt the candy coating. Coat the bottom and sides of each cavity of a Halloween-shaped candy mold with a thick layer of chocolate or candy coating. Allow this layer to harden completely. (You can speed up the hardening process by throwing the mold into the refridgerator.)

3. Press some of the peanut butter mixture into every cavity of the mold, making sure to leave a little room for the final layer of chocolate/candy coating.

4. Spoon a layer of chocolate or candy coating over the peanut butter filling. Allow this second layer of chocolate to harden completely. Carfully turn out the peanut butter cups out of the mold.

Have a happy and safe Halloween everyone! See ya in November!

Pumpkin Blondies

2009-10-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

The outdoor Dane County Farmers' Market is almost over. I always get a little sad in the waning weeks of my beloved farmers' market. The end of the market means that soon I'll be back to eating bland, store-bought, frozen veggies from a bag. And no more hot and spicy cheese bread. Sigh...

However, there are a few very important items that the fiance and I always pick up during the last few weeks of the market: A giant bag of onions that will last us through the winter. A bottle of real Wisconsin maple syrup. (Grade B. We're talking the good stuff people!) A jar of strawberry preserves. A spaghetti squash or two. And sometimes, even a pumpkin...

Speaking of which, I've been having a lot of fun baking with pumpkin this month. So when I saw this recipe for pumpkin blondies, I just had to try it. And, boy, am I glad I did! These blondies have a nice pumpkin pie flavor and really unique and satisyfing texture that is somewhere between a custard and a cake. These blondies are also studded with some chopped pecans which add a nice nutty flavor and a bit of crunch.

This recipe is adapted from the pumpkin brownie recipe over at Baking Bites:

Pumpkin Blondies

1 1/2 c (210 g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 c butter (room temperature)
2 c sugar
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 c pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
1 1/3 c pecans (chopped)

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the pumpkin puree. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture until the two are well combined. Stir in the pecans.

4. Spread the batter evenly around the bottom of lightly greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges of the blondie are golden brown and the center is set. Let the blondie cool completly before you cut it into bars.

Pumpkin Cake

2009-10-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

I'm convinced that Paula Deen is the real deal. Unlike a lot of other television personalities, she doesn't seem fake or acted at all. She's just a good ol' southern lady who loves to cook.

And I know that Paula is the real deal because she reminds me so much of my grandma. My grandma is a true southern, born in raised in the foothills of Kentucky. And just like Paula, she isn't afraid to tell it how it is. My grandma's feisty but also has a big heart and lots of love.

My grandma was also quite a cook back in the day. My childhood is filled with memories of her whipping up pecan pies, and carrot cakes, and southern fried catfish. And every time that I watch Paula cook on TV, with her humor and southern charm, I can picture my grandma as clear as day. There is no way that Paula could be faking that kind of warmth.

Speaking of which, I bet grandma would like Paula's pumpkin cake...

This recipe is adapted from Paula Deen's pumpkin bars:

Pumpkin Cake

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 c butter (room temperature)
2 1/2 c (288 g) powdered sugar (sifted to remove any lumps)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cake:
2 c (280 g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 2/3 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
1 3/4 c pumpkin puree OR canned pumpkin
4 eggs

1. To make the frosting, place the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat the ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

2. Preheat your oven to 350°.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, oil, and pumpkin until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between addition. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and gently stir until the two are just barely combined.

5. Pour the mixture into a heavily greased 10 x 13 baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.

I love this cake. It's a great fall dish, filled will all the flavors of the season. It's very moist, but not greasy or heavy, and it has this wonderful spicy and lightly fruity flavor. The cake itself is only slightly sweet, which allows it to partner nicely with the rich and tangy cream cheese frosting.

Halloween Sandwich Cookies

2009-10-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

Halloween is less then two weeks away! I'm so excited! I have all my decorations up already, and I can't wait for the big day!

I've always loved Halloween. Which, if you know me, is no real surprise. I mean, I LOVE dressing up in cool costumes and I LOVE candy. How could I not LOVE a holiday that combines the two?

And let's not forget the decor. You have to admit, that whole black and orange color scheme that Halloween has going on is totally awesome! And when you add in some cute pumpkins and silly ghosts, it gets even better!

So, in anticipation of the spookiest night of the year, I baked up some festive treats this past weekend. Among them were these adorable Halloween sandwich cookies. These colorful cookies consist of a sweet, rich, orange-tinted vanilla buttercream filling that is sandwiched between two crunchy and slightly salty chocolate wafers. Fair warning: these cookies are dangerously addictive. It's seriously hard just to eat one.

This recipe is heavily adapted from the sandwich cookie recipe posted at Joy the Baker's blog:

Halloween Sandwich Cookies

Filling:
6 tbsp butter (room temperature)
3 1/2 c (390 g) powdered sugar
4 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
yellow food coloring
red food coloring

Cookies:
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 c + 3 tbsp (236 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 c + 1 tbsp (67 g) cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
15 tbsp butter (room temperature and cut up into 3/4 inch chunks)

1. To make the filling, place the butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a medium sized bowl. Beat all of the ingredients together until they are smooth and creamy. Mix in the food coloring a few drops at a time until the desired color is reached. I found that using 2 parts yellow food coloring for every 1 part red food coloring resulted in a nice orange color.

2. To make the cookies, whisk the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Using an electric mixer on low speed, incorporate the butter into the flour mixture a few chunks at a time. While you are mixing, the dough will slowly turn sandy and then will start clumping together. Stop mixing when clumping phase starts.

3. Move one rack to the top third of your oven and another rack to the bottom third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350°.

4. Divide the finished cookie dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one half of the dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out rounds using a 2 inch cookie cutter and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat for the second half of the dough. You can re-roll your dough scraps once to get a few more cookies.

5. Bake the cookies two baking sheets at a time, placing one baking sheet on the upper oven rack and the other baking sheet on the lower oven rack. Bake the cookies for 6 minutes and then rotate the positions of the two baking sheets. Continue baking the cookies for another 6 minutes.

6. Allow the cookies to cool for two minutes on the baking sheets before transferring them to a wire rack to cook completely.

7. To assemble the sandwiches, place a dollop of the filling onto one cookie and then gently press it together with a second cookie.

Graham Cracker Cake Balls

2009-10-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying that I am not the biggest fan of cake balls. Don't get me wrong, it's not that cake balls are bad in and of themselves. On the contrary, they're actually quite tasty. It's just that the cake that is sacrificed in order to make cake balls is almost always superior to the cake balls themselves. Mushing up a cake destroys its wonderful texture, not to mention its aesthetic appeal. So why waste perfectly good cake by crumbling it into pieces to make cake balls? Just frost the darn thing! It'll be so much better!

That said, if for some reason you find that your cake is already in pieces, say because you didn't properly grease your cake pans...

... well now that's a completely different story! Suddenly cake balls have become your cake's only escape from a one way trip to the garbage can.

And that was exactly the case with this lovely graham cracker cake that I made. (Recipe here.) The cake tasted so good that I didn't want to throw it out, but it was so broken that there was no way I could patch it back together. The solution: Make cake balls!

Cake Balls

1 cake (fully baked)
3/4 to 1 c frosting
1 lb chocolate OR candy melts

1. In a large bowl, crumble the cake while it is still slightly warm. Use your hands to work in the frosting a bit at a time until the cake crumbs hold together when squeezed.

2. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Roll the cake mixture into walnut-sized balls and place them on the baking sheet. Refrigerate the rolled balls for at least half an hour.

3. While the cake balls are setting up, temper the chocolate or melt the candy melts. Coat each ball by dipping them into the chocolate/candy and then setting them back on the baking sheet to harden.

Thanks to this recipe I was able to turn my disaster cake into yummy candies! The finished cake balls had sweet, moist centers that complemented their rich, chocolaty coating. They were really good, though I'd still would rather have a big slice of cake...

Chocolate and Butterscotch Chip Cookie Bars

2009-10-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

There is an unwritten rule at my office that, on your birthday, you must bring in some sort of edible treat to share with everyone. I like this rule because it ensures that the office is treated to occasional goodies throughout the year, and yet no single person has to bring in treats more than once. It's quite a fun tradition.

Well, my birthday was this past Friday, and for my office-bound birthday treat I chose to make these chocolate and butterscotch chip cookie bars. This recipe is varation of the ever-versitile Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie. I just replaced some of the chocolate chips with butterscotch chips and made square bar cookies instead of round drop cookies.

Chocolate and Butterscotch Chip Cookie Bars

2 1/4 c (295 g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c butter (room temperature)
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar (packed)
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c butterscotch chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

4. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in the chocolate and butterscotch chips by hand.

5. Evenly spread the cookie dough around in the bottom of a lightly greased baking dish. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the middle of the cookie is set. Cut into bars while the cookie is still slighly warm.

These bars came out awesome. They were golden brown and crispy on the outside and extra moist and chewy on the inside. On top of that, the extreme sweetness of the butterscotch chips nicely balanced out the slight bitterness of the semisweet chocolate. Needless to say, my co-workers gobbled them all up. Another sucessful birthday treat!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

2009-10-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

October is by far my favorite month of the year. And why not? There is so much to love! October is a month filled with beautiful red and gold leaves that dance upon chilly breezes, and exhilarating football games that make me cheer at the top of my lungs. It is a month filled with celebration: host to both Halloween, a spooky celebration of costumes and candy, and my birthday, a personal celebration of age and accomplishment. And, of course, October is a month of harvest, adorned with sweet apples, beautiful winter squashes, and lot and lots of pumpkins.

Speaking of which, I had some pumpkin puree leftover after making that pumpkin pie a few days ago, so I decided to make these big soft chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. They were really tasty, though have to admit, "cookie" isn't really the the right word for these delicious treats. They're more like super moist, perfectly spiced muffin tops. Which is why I have been eating them for breakfast!

This recipe is adapted from the pumpkin cookie recipe posted over at Joy the Baker's blog:

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

2 c (280 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 c sugar
1/2 c canola oil
1 cup fresh pumpkin puree OR canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Move a rack to the middle of your oven and preheat it to 325°.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until light. Add the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently stir them together by hand until the dough is just barely combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, measure out 1/4 cup mounds of dough and place them 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. I was able to fit 6 cookies on my standard sized baking sheet.

6. Bake the cookies for 16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for five minutes before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.

These cookies will last up to four days in an airtight container and they freeze beautifully. They do tend to stick together though, so I recomend separating layers of cookies with waxed paper.

Pumpkin Pie

2009-10-03T09:08:00.001-07:00

Seeing that my last two posts were about pie crust and pumpkin puree, it only seems natural that today's post would be about pumpkin pie!

For me, the scent of pumpkin pie always brings back such happy memories. It reminds me of the fall-time family gatherings of my childhood. They were such happy times, filled with good food, competitive games of Scrabble, and the telling of silly family stories. Those days were always filled with so much joy and laughter.

But that's enough nostalgia for one post: let's get to the pie!

I love the below recipe because it is exactly what a good pumpkin pie should be: smooth and creamy, with the perfect balance between the warmth of the spices and the sweetness of the pumpkin. It's a hardy and satisfying pie that's not too light or too heavy. Using a homemade pie crust and fresh pumpkin puree will give your pie the best flavor and texture possible. However, even if you use a store-bought crust and canned pumpkin, your pie is still going to be quite tasty.

This recipe is adapted from the pumpkin pie recipe at Joy of Baking:

Pumpkin Pie

3 eggs
2 c fresh pumpkin puree OR a 15 ounce can of pure pumpkin
1/2 c heavy whipping cream
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 unbaked all butter pie crust OR an unbaked store-bought pie crust

1. Move a rack to the bottom third of your oven and preheat the oven to 375°.

2. In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add the pumpkin, cream, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt and mix until well combined.

3. Pour the filling into an unbaked pie crust and then place the pie pan on a baking sheet. Bake for 50 minutes or until the filling is set. Allow the pie to cool completly.

Pumpkin Puree

2009-10-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

I just love pumpkins. For some reason, I find their cute round shape and pretty orange color absolutely adorable. And now that it's October, pretty little decorative pumpkins have been magically popping up all over my neighborhood. They're so charming and festive that I can't help but smile.

In addition to their aesthetic appeal, pumpkins are also quite tasty. They add a comforting, slightly sweet, slightly fruity taste and a ton of moisture to a plethora of wondrous baked treats. And while now a days you can buy canned pumpkin that is pretty darn good, I still think that making your own pumpkin puree is the way to go. Baked goods make with fresh pumpkin puree have a lighter texture and a stronger pumpkin flavor, which makes them just a bit better than their canned pumpkin cousins.

Below you'll find step-by-step instructions on how to make your own pumpkin puree from a real pumpkin. This fresh, tasty pumpkin puree can be substituted cup for cup for canned pumpkin in all of your favorite pumpkin recipes:

1. First you need to pick out a pumpkin! You'll want to stick to pumpkins that are bred for taste, such as the Sugar Pie or New England Pie varieties. These pumpkins are much sweeter and more tender than pumpkins that are bred to make good jack o' lanterns. Look for a pumpkin that is smaller than a basketball, as larger pumpkins tend to be a bit stringy and tough. Choose a pumpkin that is heavy for its size and is deep orange in color. Make sure the pumpkin is free of bruises and soft spots. This looks like a nice pumpkin:

2. Using your biggest, sharpest chef's knife, cut the pumpkin in half. This right here is the hardest part of making pumpkin puree. A good quality pumpkin is always a bit tough to cut through, but keep working at it, slowly and carefully, and you'll have it cut open in no time! Oh, while you're at it, cut off the stem and the little woody nub on the bottom of the pumpkin.

3. Scrap out the all of the seeds and the gooey, stringy stuff from the middle of the pumpkin. This procedure should be pretty familiar to anyone who's ever made a jack o' lantern. I like using a big metal spoon for this task.

4. Preheat your favorite oven to 375°. Place the pumpkin halves, cut side down, in an old, beat up baking dish. Cover the baking dish with a big sheet of aluminum foil. Bake until the pumpkin is tender enough to be easily pierced with a fork. My pumpkin took about 1 hour to bake.

5. Allow the pumpkin to cool enough to handle it. Peel the leathery skin off of the pumpkin and place the pumpkin flesh into a large bowl.

6. Mash up the cooked pumpkin until it is smooth. You can use a blender or food processor if you like, but I find that my old, cheap potato masher works just fine for this task.

7. You now have your very own homemade pumpkin puree! You can store your puree in a covered container in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. It will keep in the fridge for two or three days. Alternately, you can throw your puree in a zip top bag and freeze it for up to six months.

All Butter Pie Crust

2009-09-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

There was a time, not too long ago, when I was afraid of making my own pie crust. I was so intimidated by the number of steps that I wasn't even willing to try.

So when I finally did gather the courage to make my own crust, I was shocked at how easy it was and how quickly it came together. And the results were wonderful! The crust was flaky and buttery and, well, let's just say that haven't bought a premade crust ever since.

From my experience, there are really only two rules to follow when making a pie crust. First, don't let your butter melt. If at any point in the process you find that your butter is melting, just stop and throw everything in the freezer for a few minutes. Second, use as little water as possible when bringing the dough together. The less water you use, the better the texture of the crust will be.

Seriously, that's all you have to remember.

This recipe is adapted from Joy of Baking's Pate Brisee recipe. This recipe makes a single crust. If you need a double crust, the recipe can easily be doubled. I've included photos for each step in the hopes that I can encourage you to make your own delicious crust.

All Butter Pie Crust

1 1/4 c (175 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar (omit for a savoury crust)
1/2 c cold butter
1/8 to 1/4 c cold water

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar.

2. Cut the butter into 1 inch cubes and toss them into the flour.

3. Work the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like a coarse meal. The goal of this step is to create little flour-covered butter bits. Personally, I do this by taking the largest chunk of butter that I see and then "squishing" it into the flour with my fingers. I continue this process until there are no butter pieces that are bigger than a pea.

4. Work 1/8 c of the cold water into the flour mixture until the dough just barely comes together. If you find that the dough is not holding together properly, add a little bit more water and try again. Use as little water as possible, and do not use more than 1/4 c total. Form the dough into a ball.

5. Flatten the dough ball into a disk shape and and wrap it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour before rolling.

6. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough so that it is big enough to cover a 9 inch pie pan. I recommend lifting up the dough and turning it occasionally while you roll so that it doesn't stick to the counter.

7. Carefully place the rolled dough over the pie pan. Gently press the dough into the pan so that there are no air gaps between the pan and the dough.

8. Trim the excess dough that is hanging over the edge of the pan. You can use the scraps from your trimming to repair any holes or tears in the crust.

9. If you recipe calls for an unbaked pie crust, simply take your crust and stash it in the fridge until you are ready to fill it. If your recipes calls for a pre-baked crust, then preheat your oven to 400° and place a rack in the center of the oven. Line the pie crust with aluminum foil and then fill it with beans or pie weights. Bake for 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Remove the weights and foil and allow the crust to cool.

Caramel Crumb Bars

2009-09-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I've always had trouble with any recipe that involves boiling sugar. I've botched butterscotchs, corrupted caramels, and totaled toffees more times than I care to count. I was hoping it would be different with these caramel crumb bars. The recipe for the caramel portion of these buttery bars was so simple, so elegant, so foolproof.

Well, I must be a fool, because I still managed to mess it up.

To start with, I badly burned my first batch of caramel and had to throw it out. It was totally my own fault though. While I was cooking the caramel, I got distracted by a football game that was playing on the TV in the next room. By the time I remembered that I was suppose to be cooking and not watching TV, my caramel was smoking and the bottom of my pan was completely black. Yikes!

So, after 15 minutes of scrubbing out my sauce pan, I gathered my courage and some more ingredients and started a second batch. Since I was so paranoid about burning my caramel again, I ended up taking the second batch of caramel off of the stove a bit early, so it was a bit undercooked. Instead of a golden-brown sauce, my "caramel" resembled a really rich, thick vanilla pudding. However, when I gave it a taste, it was wonderfully buttery and sweet, so I went ahead and put it in my bars anyway.

Despite my imperfect caramel, the bars were quite delicious. They had a lovely, crumbly texture and a rich, buttery flavor cut by just the right amount saltiness. I'll definitely be making these again in the future, though I think I'm going to practice my sugar boiling skills a bit more first.

This recipe is adapted from the caramel crumb bar recipe posted over at Piece of Cake:

Caramel Crumb Bars

Crust:
2 1/2 c (350 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 c butter (room temperature)
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1/4 c brown sugar (packed)
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1/8 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together 2 1/4 c (315 g) of the flour and the salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until well combined.

4. Take 3/4 of the crust mixture and evenly press it into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan. Place the pan in the refrigerator to chill.

5. Add the remaining 1/4 c (35 g) of flour to the remaining 1/4 of the crust mixture. Work the mixture together with your fingertips until large crumbs form. Set aside.

6. To make the filling, place the butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and salt into a medium sauce pan. Cook the mixture over medium heat for 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens and darkens in color slightly. Pour the caramel into an metal bowl and allow it to cool for five minutes.

7. Evenly spread the caramel over the chilled crust. Sprinkle with the crumbs.

8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust browns and the filling is bubbly.

These bars are quite rich, so I recommend cutting them into relatively small pieces. Also, these buttery treats get a little soggy as they age, so either eat them up quick or wrap them tight and throw them in the freezer.

Snickerdoodles

2009-09-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

I've been on a huge cookie baking kick this month, and I blame it all on this cookie jar.

I bought this beauty for $0.99 at a thrift store several weeks back, and I absolutely love it. It's stylish, sturdy, easy to clean, airtight, and holds a ton of cookies. Overall, a great find. There is only one problem. The jar is completely clear, so you can tell when it's empty. And to a baker like me, there is nothing sadder then an empty cookie jar!

So inspired by a recent post over at smitten kitchen and the lonely look of my empty cookie jar, I decided to bake up some snickerdoodles this week.

Despite there name, snickerdoodles contain neither snickers nor doodles. They do, however, contain a comforting cinnamon-sugar flavor and a soft, delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture. They are simple yet inviting cookies, which is why I like to have them around for visitors and house guests.

This recipe is adapted from the one at Joy of Baking:

Snickerdoodles

Cookie:
2 3/4 (385 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 c butter
1 1/2 c sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

Coating:
1/3 c sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. Gradually beat in the flour mixture until well combined.

3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

4. Preheat the oven to 375°. In a small bowl, whisk together the cinnamon and sugar.

5. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and then roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture until it is well coated. Place the dough balls on a baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. Flatten each ball slightly using the bottom of a glass.

6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies are firm in the center.

Unlike a lot of other cookies, snickerdoodles don't brown as the bake, so keep a close eye on them and pull them from the oven just as the center of the cookies set. These cinnamon-sugar treats will keep for a week or more in any airtight container, including stylish clear cookie jars.

The Blunder Files #1: Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Tart

2009-09-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, I promised myself that I would feature my baking flops as prominently as I feature my baking successes.

My hope is that by discussing my baking blunders, I can prove that you don't have to be perfect to be a great baker. That it's okay if things don't always go right in your kitchen. Blunders happen to the best of us. The important thing is that you learn from your mistakes, aren't afraid to try again, and can laugh at yourself a little during the process.

So anyway, on to my blunder:

My original plan was this: I was going to bake a sweet, crunchy graham cracker crust and then coated it with a thin layer of melted dark chocolate. I would then filled this crust with a creamy dark chocolate ganache and top it with a rich and tangy raspberry sauce.

As you can see in the above photo, the first dent in my plan was berry related. You see, I had carefully reserved a pint of raspberries for this very recipe. However, when I pulled said berries out of the fridge, I discovered that they were covered in a fuzzy, icky, white mold. Ew. Needless to say, the moldy raspberries were promptly thrown out, resulting in a "raspberry" tart that has absolutely no raspberries.

If spoiled berries weren't enough, I also had problems with my graham cracker crust. For some reason, my crust was unusually fragile. When I tried to spread the thin layer of melted chocolate onto it, the bottom of the crust literally fell apart. I did my best to put the crust back together, but I only managed to create a giant chocolate and graham cracker crumb pile where the bottom of my crust used to be.

Luckily, this wasn't a very disastorus blunder. The ganache filling was creamy, chocolaty, and rich, and paired well with the sweetness of the crust. Even though the bottom of the crust was greatly damaged, the top of the tart ended up looking nice, which made for a great blog photo!

In the end, though I failed to make raspberry chocolate truffle tart, I ended up with a half-filled chocolate cream pie. Which isn't so bad, all things considered.

Apple Crisp

2009-09-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

I can officially say, without a doubt, that the fall season is now upon us.

It's not the cooler temperatures and shorter days telling me that it is fall. Nor is it the fringe of yellow and red leaves that adorn the trees throughout my neighborhood. Nope, I know that it is fall because, this past Sunday, my fiance and I spent our entire afternoon in a darkly lit sports bar eating delicious but fattening fried foods while watching three football games at once and discussing our fantasy league stats with the guys at the table next to us.

Oh yeah, and then there's the apples.

Our local farmer's market is just chock full of perfectly ripe, sweet, juicy, crunchy apples. I picked up a bag of honeycrisp apples from the Fleming Orchards stand last week, and I have been very much enjoying eating an apple for my daily afternoon snack. With their firm texture and sweet and tart flavor, they also made one heck of an apple crisp!

Apple crisp, if you didn't know, is basically a giant crustless Dutch apple pie. It has all the classic apple pie flavors; sweetness, tartness, and tons of cinnamon goodness. The sweet, sticky syrup that forms when the sugar meets the apples is absolutely awesome, and I love how the crispy, crunchy texture of the streusely topping contrasts with the softness of the baked apples.

This recipe is based off of one I found on the internet, though I have made heavy modifications to it:

Apple Crisp

Filling:
1 c sugar
1 tbsp (8 g) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 c water
10 c honeycrisp apples (peeled, cored and sliced)

Topping:
2 c (280 g) all-purpose flour
2 c oats
2 c brown sugar (packed)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c butter (melted)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. To create the filling, mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and water together in a large bowl until well combined. Add the apples and toss until the apples are well coated in the sugar mixture.

3. To create the topping, place the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and melted butter into a medium bowl. Work the mixture together with your hands until it is well combined.

4. Place the apples into a 9 x 13 pan and evenly sprinkle the topping over them.

5. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the apples are bubbly and the topping is golden brown.

While you can eat it cold, this apple crisp is best served warm with a little bit of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. I like the richness of the above recipe, but if you are looking for something a little on the healthier side, you can always halve the amount of topping. The most time-consuming part of this recipe is preparing the apples, so I recommend grabbing a friend to help you peel, core, and slice.

Almond Buttercream Frosting

2009-09-13T07:34:00.000-07:00

I vividly remember the first time that I tasted almond buttercream frosting.

I was introduced to this wonderful sugary spread at my college graduation party. You see, my parents had ordered a beautiful black and gold cake from the Milford Bakery, and when I tasted the frosting that covered this celebratory pastry, I was completely blown away. Though I had consumed a great deal of buttercream during my academic career, I had never had a frosting with such depth, subtlety, and character. It was sweet and buttery with a fruity, almost floral, aroma. On top of that, it had just a tiny hint of nuttiness, which greatly complemented and enhanced the sweetness of the frosting itself.

When a party goer identified this unique flavor as almond... well.. let's just say that I've been hooked on almond extract ever since!

This is an original recipe that I came up with after a lot of time playing with proportions:

Almond Buttercream Frosting

3 1/2 c (390 g) powdered sugar
6 tbsp butter (room temperature)
4 tbsp 2% milk
2 tsp pure almond extract

1. In a medium bowl, beat together all ingredients until smooth.

This is my number one "go to" recipe when frosting sugar cookies, and it is a great addition to just about any cake. Be sure to tightly wrap any unused frosting, as this particular buttercream tends to set-up very quickly.

Also, feel free to eat this frosting straight out of the bowl. I know that my fiance and I do all the time!

Sugar Cookies

2009-09-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

Ah, the humble sugar cookie...

The only cookie in the baking world modest enough to let the frosting and sprinkles that it bears take center stage and be the star. These gentle cookies, with there pleasant but mild taste, pair perfectly with all manner of toppings, allowing them to become veritable and variable confection canvases. Buttercreams and fondants, jimmies and baking morsels, if it's sweet and delicious you can probably put it on a sugar cookie.

Sugar cookies are also study and durable fellows. It their dough form, they can be rolled and rerolled with very little ill effect. On top of that, they can be cut into almost any shape and, being the nice guys that they are, will gladly retain that shape throughout the baking process.

All of these qualities make the sugar cookie a great base for edible works of art. The key is to use yummy topping, be creative, and have lots of fun!

This recipe is adapted from Joy of Baking's sugar cookie recipe:

Sugar Cookies

3 1/2 c (460 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 c butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 c sugar
2 large eggs (room temperature)
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

3. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, beating until well combined.

4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or until the dough is firm enough to roll out.

5. Preheat the oven to 350°.

6. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out your desired shapes and place them on an ungreased baking sheet.

7. Bake until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. On average, this will take about 10 minutes. Large cookies may require a few extra minutes to bake and small cookies may require a bit less baking time.

From beginning to end, making sugar cookies actually takes quite a large chunk of time. Since my full time job leaves me very little time during the week, I usually end up making sugar cookies over a three night period. The first night, I mix up the cookie dough, wrap it in plastic wrap, and stash it in the fridge. The second night, I fire up the oven, roll out and cut the dough, bake the cookies, cool them, and then store them in an airtight container. The third night is frosting and decorating time. This three night process works out great and insures that I can take my time and make something special!

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Pound Cake

2009-09-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

I have a love-hate relationship with sour cream.

On the one hand, I HATE sour cream when it is used as condiment. When I'm at a Mexican restaurant, I view a side of sour cream as a threat; an icky, gloppy, white menace capable of ruining an otherwise delicious burrito or pile of nachos. And why would I ever want to destroy a lovely baked potato by topping it with a blob of unpleasantly tangy dairy goo?

On the other hand, I LOVE sour cream when it is used as a baking ingredient. Sour cream has this amazing ability to lighten cake batter, resulting in cakes that are wonderfully tender and moist. I also find that the hint of dairy flavor provided by sour cream really draws out the delicate sweetness that is often times hidden inside of baked goods. And don't even get me started on sour cream doughnuts. Mmm... sour cream doughnuts...

So I guess I'll keep you around for now, Mr. Sour Cream, as long as you agree to stay off my nachos!

This recipe was adapted from one I found on Taste of Home's website:

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Pound Cake

4 c (560g) all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 c butter (room temperature)
2 c sugar
4 eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c (16 oz) sour cream
2 c (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

4. Alternately add the flour mixture and the sour cream to the sugar mixture, in three additions. Beat well between each addition. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

5. Pour the batter into a well greased pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

This cake is moist and sweet with a thick, crunchy, golden brown crust. It is rich enough to be eaten by itself, though I'm sure it would be even better with a glaze or frosting. (I am definitely going to have to try using this recipe to create a layer cake with chocolate buttercream frosting at some point in the future.)

Since I plan on mailing this cake to my Dad as part of his birthday present, I decided to bake the cake into a loaf shape. I've found that a loaf-shaped cake survives a trip through the postal system a lot better than a bundt-shaped cake. Because this recipe makes so much, I actually ended up having enough batter to fill a regular-sized loaf pan and two mini loaf pans.

My two mini loaf cakes turned out perfectly. My regular-sized loaf cake, on the other hand, was burnt on the bottom, which you can see if you look closely at the above photo. You see, I've been using this newfangled silicone loaf pan and... well... nothing I've ever baked in it has turned out quite right. This is the third time that I've burnt something using this particular pan. Consequently, I'm going to retire the troublesome pan from my collection and replace it with a good old-fashioned metal pan.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

2009-09-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

I love the combination of peanut butter and sugar. Reese's cups, Buckeye candies, peanut butter frosting, I love them all. There's just something about that sweet and salty fusion of nut paste and sucrose that makes me go "Mmm".

So when I saw this recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies in Woman's Day magazine, a recipe which primarly consists of peanut butter and brown sugar, I had to try it. When I saw that one of my favorite baking blogs, Joy the Baker, had made these cookies earlier this year and liked them, I was even more psyched.

This recipe is adapted from the one featured in the September 15, 2009 issue of Woman's Day magazine:

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

2 c peanut butter
2 c brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. In a medium bowl, beat together the peanut butter, sugar, eggs and baking soda until smooth.

3. Drop walnut-sized balls of the dough onto an ungreased baking sheet about two inches apart. Flatten the dough balls slightly with a fork.

4. Bake for 10 minutes or until the cookies are puffy and slightly golden brown. Cool on the baking sheet for at least two minutes before removing the cookies.

The taste of these cookies was very good. They were moderately sweet and had a strong peanuty flavor. On the other hand, the texture of these cookies was NOT what I was expecting. Instead of being chewy and moist like a normal peanut butter cookie, these cookies were crumbly and crisp, kind of like a Scottish shortbread. The texture wasn't bad per se, but I still think I prefer the chewiness of classic flour-based peanut butter cookies, and as such I'll probably stick with the floured recipe in the future.

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-09-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

For my first post, I thought it would be fitting to share with you the recipe for the first batch of baked goods that I ever made: Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. These sweet, buttery, chocolaty disks of deliciousness are the first step into the world of home baking for many Americans. This is no surprise, considering that a recipe similar to the one below is prominently printed on the back of just about every bag of chocolate chips, and the resulting cookies are darn near perfect.

My mom used to make me these cookies all the time when I was a kid, and I loved them so much that as soon as I was old enough to use the oven by myself, I started making them for myself.

By the way, do you know why these are called Toll House cookies? It's because they were originally invented in the 1930s by Ruth Wakefield who sold them at the Toll House inn. Ruth had originally added bits of chocolate to her butter cookie dough in the hopes that the chocolate would melt into the cookies during the baking process, thereby creating chocolate cookies. Instead, the chocolate held its shape, creating little pockets of creamy chocolate goodness.

This recipe is adapted from Nestle's Very Best Baking website:

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 c (295 g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c butter (room temperature)
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar (packed)
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

4. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

5. Drop rounded tablespoons of the cookie dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.

I find that this cookie dough keeps very well in the fridge for a few days, so I'll often make the dough ahead of time, wrap it in plastic wrap, and stash it in the refrigerator until I'm ready to bake. Though they are best straight out of the oven, eaten while the chocolate is all melty and delicious, these cookies will keep a week or more in an air-tight container.