Crémé Brûlée

I am on a dessert kick lately. I just can't help it! Desserts are by far my favorite things to make! I fell in love with Crémé Brûlée. I had it at a local restaurant and became slightly obsessed. I went out and bought a little crémé brûlée kit that had the ramekins, and the small little kitchen torch (my favorite part). I do slightly love fire, so when I say the torch is my favorite part I'm not really joking. I would have to be honest and say that the torch comes second only to eating the finished crémé brûlée. There are many recipes that call for straight cream in this recipe but I prefer using half cream and half milk. I don't feel like it compromises the flavor at all, but isn't quite as heavy or greasy feeling.

Crémé Brûlée

Total Time: 3 hr 30 min

Prep: 15 min

Inactive: 2 hr 15 min

Cook: 1 hr 0 min

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 quart heavy cream (I prefer 2 cups heavy cream and 2 cups milk)
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1 cup vanilla sugar, divided
• 6 large egg yolks
• 2 quarts hot water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. 

Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.


In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.


Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Divide the remaining 1/2 cup vanilla sugar equally among the 6 dishes and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.  If you don't have a torch you can place them in the oven on broil but watch them very closely for they will burn very quickly.

Recipe Source: Adapted slightly from the Food Network

Lemon Olive Oil Cookies

I'll be honest I have never made cookies with anything other than butter. I am a huge fan of butter in my cookies. You can imagine my curiosity when I saw this recipe that only had olive oil. Olive oil is a healthy alternative to butter. I use it all the time in my cooking, but have never really used it in my baking. I'm pretty sure the only oils I have in my house and regularly use are olive oil, coconut oil, and butter. Now I'm not saying I'm going to stop using butter in my cookies. I absolutely adore the buttery taste of most cookies, but in these cookies I didn't mind not having it. These cookies were crisp on the edges and soft and chewy in the center with a delicious flavor of lemon. They were really quick and easy to make. I think I threw them together in 10 minutes or less and they only took 12 minutes to bake. It turned out to be a quick, easy, and delicious mid day snack!

Lemon Olive Oil Cookies

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup Lemon Olive oil (I didn't have this so I used regular Olive Oil with great results)
• 4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• Juice of 1 ½ lemons
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Sugar, for rolling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk flour, sugar, salt and baking soda together in medium-sized bowl. In another small bowl, stir together the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla.
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, then mix lightly until it resembles wet sand (I like to use my hand, when the dough is squeezed it should form a solid clump). Using your hands, roll dough into balls about the size of a walnut.
4. Roll in a  little sugar and roll the cookie balls gently in your hands to distribute it. Put the cookies about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets and bake for about 12-15 minutes

Recipe Source: Field of Cakes

Cheese Blintzes

I hope all of you had a wonderful Valentines Day! The last few years my husband and I have taken the train to Denver for Valentines Day. This year we stayed in a cute little bed and breakfast in down town Denver. We had a great time! We also love taking the train places. On this trip one of the things they were serving in the dining car of the train for breakfast were cheese blintzes. My husband had never heard of these before. Now train food is ok, but when they said they cooked the cheese blintzes in the microwave I just couldn't bare to try them. I told my husband I would make him some when we got home. I absolutely love a good cheese blintze! Most of you know that anything that you can call breakfast, but really could be eaten as a dessert is ok in my book. I think these are such a yummy variation to a traditional crepe. This recipe is very easy and so worth any work you put into it! If you have never tried cheese blintzes this recipe is a very basic recipe and can be dolled up any way you want.

Cheese Blintzes

12 6-8 inch crepes

2 8 oz packages cream cheese (sorry, low-fat will not work here)

1 cup cottage cheese or ricotta cheese

2/3 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 T melted butter

Toppings:

Applesauce

Fruit

Jam

Sour cream

Syrup

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees and brush a 9x13 pan with melted butter. Stir cream cheese, cottage cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla extra in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon until blended. 

2. To fill each crepe, spoon 3 T of filling cream cheese mixture in the center of once crepe, then fold the bottom part of the crepe up over the filling, followed by folding both sides in, and finally folding the top down. Place seam side down in prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

3. Brush the tops of each blintz with melted butter and place in oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until they are puffed and turning golden in color. Remove from oven. I have also done this step in a frying pan with some butter, flipping once browned. If choosing this option you have to be very careful not to tear the delicate crepe when flipping.

4. To serve, top blintzes with your choice of applesauce, fruit, jam, sour cream or syrup. If you are feeling spunky you can also put the fruit on the inside!

Recipe Source: Heat Oven To 350

Brownie Batter Bites

I grew up in a family that LOVES batters. It wasn't uncommon for us to make a batch of cookie dough and never get around to baking any of them. We have also been known to make a bowl of brownie batter or cake batter and just eat it with a spoon. Is this healthy? No. Do I absolutely love it? Yes. Does it bring me great joy and happiness accompanied by mental relaxation and nostalgia? Yes! Then logically I have come to the conclusion that this should be healthy for me. Don't worry I will exercise a little harder to make up for it. Or maybe I'll just blame it on the holidays. Whatever I need to do to feel good about eating these delicious little bites is worth it!

I came up with this idea as I was thinking about all the delicious truffles out there. We have Oreo truffles, cookie dough truffles, cake batter truffles, and many many more traditional truffles. After making these I decided to see if anyone else out there had thought of this brilliant idea. Not surprisingly I was not the first, and what they came up with was quite similar to what I came up with! I guess us batter lovers have to stick together on some things :). I decided to call mine bites because I didn't want to dip them in chocolate. They have more than enough chocolaty goodness by themselves, and it makes me feel like I really am eating brownie batter but in small bite size portions!

Brownie Batter Bites
Prep Time: 5 min
Fridge Time: At least 2 hrs

Ingredients
1 box of your favorite brownie mix
1/2-3/4 cup of half & half or cream
Sprinkles for decorating (optional)

Directions
Empty brownie mix into a medium sized microwavable bowl. Slowly add half & half or cream stirring as you add. Please note that different brands of brownie mix might require different amounts of cream. You want your batter to be thick kind of like a cookie dough. Once  you have mixed in your cream place bowl in the microwave and cook for 2 minutes stirring after 1st minute. I found that this made the batter a little smoother and less gritty. Your batter will now be melted and you can stir it a lot easier. Place batter in the fridge for a few hours until it has set back up. Scoop out about a tablespoon of batter at a time and roll into balls. You can roll them in sprinkles or cocoa powder to help cut down on the stickiness and just to make them look fun and colorful. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to a week. You could also store them in the freezer for longer if needed.

Pumpkin Pie Dessert

What would Thanksgiving be without some sort of pumpkin pie? Now what would you do if you didn't like pumpkin pie? Maybe its not so much the pumpkin but the pie part of pumpkin pie that you don't like. I of course am not talking about myself, but if I were to be honest I would have to say I prefer my pie to be apple. When it comes to pumpkin pie I think I would be completely satisfied if all of my pumpkin pies were actually this dessert! It has the right amount of pumpkin, and a delicious amount of cakey buttery goodness to make this dessert worthy of replacing all the pumpkin pies in the world (in my opinion). So if you know any picky pumpkin eaters this is definitely a recipe you will have to try!

Pumpkin Pie Dessert

Prep time: 30 minutes
Bake time: 1 hr
Servings:12-15

Ingredients:

Crust
2 cups homemade cake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup melted butter

Filling
24 oz pumpkin
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Topping
1 cup Homemade cake mix *

1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter chilled

Directions:
Grease the bottom only of a 9X13 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the crust ingredients in a medium bowl. Spread mixture into the prepared pan.

In the same bowl combine filling ingredients. Mix until well incorporated. Pour filling mix over the crust mixture.

In a small bowl combine the 1 cup of homemade cake mix, sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in chilled butter. Sprinkle topping over the pumpkin mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve warm or at room temperate. The cake holds together a little bit better at room temperature or chilled. Serve with whipping cream on top and enjoy!

*I absolutely love the homemade cake mix in this recipe. The flavor is fantastic, but if you don't have some of the homemade stuff in your freezer like I do, and don't feel like making some you can substitute the homemade cake mix for a box cake mix. You might have to add more butter to the crust mixture, but know that it is an option.

Brown Sugar Cookies

I love cookies! I love these cookies! I love cookie dough! I pretty much love anything that involves cookies! Obviously since it was Halloween yesterday I had to make cookies. I mean what else do you do on Halloween? There is not nearly enough candy and sugar floating around that I just had to make cookies as well. And not just any cookies. I had to make these cookies. Sugar cookies are wonderful. A good sugar cookies is fantastic. A sugar cookie that involves browned butter and brown sugar...WOW. You all know by now the soft spot I have in my heart for browned butter right? Yep I love it. These cookies did not change my love for browned butter at all.  If anything it might have increased my love for it. It really just adds so much richness and caramel like flavor to every recipe.

 Brown Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
• 1 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

Directions:

1. In 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat, heat 10 tablespoons butter until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to the heat-proof bowl of a stand mixer. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter to melt; set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
2. While butter is cooling, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.
4. Add 1 3/4 cups brown sugar and salt to bowl with cooled butter; attach paddle and mix on medium-low speed until no sugar lumps remain, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; add egg, yolk, almond extract and vanilla and mix on medium-low speed until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
5. Roll into a 1 round balls. Place on a silpat lined cookie sheet. Flatten cookie slightly with palm of hand or bottom of a drinking glass.
6. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are browned and still puffy and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone); 12 to 14 minutes.
7. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes then using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.
8. If desired frost cooled cookies. I used this frosting and loved it!

Yields: 24 cookies

Recipe Source: Adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Povitica

The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat! I really had never heard of a povitica. Povitica (pronounced po-va-teet-sa) is traditional Eastern European dessert bread that is traditionally served during the holiday season. It is also known as Nutroll, Potica, Kalachi, Strudia, just to name a few. Family recipes, and the secrets on how to roll the bread so thin, was passed down through generations of families. I was really excited to try this recipe. The bread looks so pretty. I also loved how she uses a sheet (or tablecloth) to roll out the dough. I have never thought of this and it worked like a charm! One of the hard things about being a food blogger is trying to restrain myself from eating all of this bread before I took a picture of it. Luckily there was more than one loaf! A traditional Povitca is made with walnuts. I unfortunately am not a fan of walnuts, so I used almonds instead. Feel free to use whatever nut you wish!

Povitca

Preparation time:
To make Dough: 40 minutes
Rising: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Rolling and Assembly: 20 minutes per loaf, a generous total of 1 hour
Baking: 1 hour
Cooling: 30 minutes
To Make the Filling: 15 minutes, including the grinding of the nuts

Dough Ingredients (Makes two loaves each 1.25 lbs/565 grams)
To activate the Yeast:
1 Teaspoon (5 ml/4 ½ gm) Sugar
½ Teaspoon (2½ ml/1½ gm) All-Purpose (Plain) Flour
¼ Cup (60 ml) Warm Water
1 Tablespoon (15 ml/7 gm/¼ oz/1 sachet) Dry Yeast

Dough:
1 Cup (240 ml) Whole Milk
6 Tablespoons (90 ml/85 gm/3 oz) Sugar
1½ Teaspoons (7½ ml/9 gm/1/3 oz) Table Salt
2 Large Eggs
¼ Cup (60 ml/60 gm/½ stick/2 oz) Unsalted Butter, melted
4 cups (960 ml/560 gm/19¾ oz/1¼ lb) All-Purpose Flour, measure first then sift, divided

Topping:
1 Tablespoon (15 ml/14 gm/½ oz) Granulated Sugar (Optional)
Melted Butter

Filling Ingredients (enough filling for the two loaves(
3½ Cups (840 ml/560 gm/1¼ lb/20 oz) Ground almonds (I just stuck my in a food processor)
½ Cup (120 ml) Whole Milk
½ Cup (120 ml/115 gm/1 stick/4 oz) Unsalted Butter
1 Whole Egg, Beaten
½ Teaspoon (2½ ml) Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Cup (240 ml/225 gm/8 oz) Sugar
1 Teaspoon (5 ml/4 gm) Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon (5 ml/3 gm) Cinnamon

Directions:
To Activate Yeast:
1. In a small bowl, stir 1 teaspoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon flour, and the yeast into 1/4 cup warm water and  cover with plastic wrap.
2. Allow to stand for 5 minutes

To Make the Dough:
3. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk up to just below  boiling (about 180°F/82°C), stirring constantly so that a  film does not form on the top of the milk. You want it hot  enough to scald you, but not boiling. Allow to cool slightly, until it is about 110°F/43°C.
4. In a large bowl, mix the scalded milk, 6 tbs (90 ml/85 gm/3 oz) sugar, and the salt until combined.
5. Add the beaten eggs, yeast mixture, melted butter, and 2 cups (480 ml/280 gm/10 oz) of flour.
6. Blend thoroughly and slowly add remaining flour, mixing well until the dough starts to clean the bowl.
7. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, gradually adding flour a little at a time, until
smooth and does not stick.
8. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces (they will each weight about 1.25 pounds/565 grams)
9. Place dough in 2 lightly oiled bowls, cover loosely with a layer of plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel and let rise an hour and a half in a warm place, until doubled in size.


To Make the Filling
10. In a large bowl mix together the ground almonds, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa.
11. Heat the milk and butter to boiling.
12. Pour the liquid over the nut/sugar mixture.
13. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
14. Allow to stand at room temperature until ready to be spread on the dough.
15. If the mixture thickens, add a small amount of warm milk.

To Roll and Assemble the Dough:
16. Spread a clean sheet or cloth over your entire table so that it is covered.
17. Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons to a handful of flour (use flour sparingly)
18. Place the dough on the sheet and roll the dough out with a rolling pin, starting in the middle and working your way out, until it measures roughly 10-12 inches (25½ cm by 30½ cm) in diameter.
19. Spoon 1 to 1.5 teaspoons (5ml to 7 ½ ml/4 gm to 7 gm) of melted butter on top.
20. Using the tops of your hands, stretch dough out from the center until the dough is thin and uniformly opaque. You can also use your rolling pin, if you prefer.
21. As you work, continually pick up the dough from the table, not only to help in stretching it
out, but also to make sure that it isn’t sticking.
22. When you think it the dough is thin enough, try to get it a little thinner. It should be so thin that you can see the color and perhaps the pattern of the sheet underneath.
23. Spoon filling (see above for recipe) evenly over dough until covered.
24. Lift the edge of the cloth and gently roll the dough like a jelly roll.
25. Once the dough is rolled up into a rope, gently lift it up and place it into a greased loaf pan in the shape of a “U”, with the ends meeting in the middle. You want to coil the dough around itself, as this will give the dough its characteristic look when sliced.
26. Repeat with remaining loaf, coiling each rope of dough in its own loaf pan.
27. Brush the top of each loaf with melted butter and 2 tablespoons (30ml/28 gm/1 oz) of sugar. If you prefer, you can also use egg whites in place of this.
28. Cover pans lightly will plastic wrap and allow to rest for approximately 15 minutes.
29. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4.
30. Remove plastic wrap from dough and place into the preheated oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes.
31. Turn down the oven temperature to slow 300°F/150°C/gas mark 2 and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until done.
32. Check the bread every 30 minutes to ensure that the bread is not getting too brown. You may cover the loaves with a sheet of aluminum foil if you need to.
33. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes.
34. It is recommended that the best way to cut Povitica loaves into slices is by turning the loaf upside down and slicing with a serrated knife.

Nutella Hand Pies

I love Nutella...I mean who doesn't? I was first introduced to it years ago and have loved it ever since. I have eaten more than a few nutella sandwiches in my life and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. So when I had some left over pie crust dough from these chicken pot pies I knew exactly what to do with it! Make little individual Nutella pies! This way I can eat my little Nutella pie without a fork, and even on the who. I see this as a win win situation!

Nutella Hand Pies

Left over pie crust
Nutella
Egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tbs water)
Sugar (enough to sprinkle on top)

Directions:
Roll out pie crust fairly thin. Use a biscuit cutter or drinking glass to cut out circles in your pie crust. Place about 1 tbs of nutella on each circle. Gently fold the circle in half around the nutella making sure to to squeeze out all of the nutella. Using a fork crimp the edges to seal in the nutella. Brush top with egg wash and sprinkle with a little bit of sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Heavenly Hot Fudge

Years ago my sister lived in Chicago. My mom and I went out to visit her. We had a great time. We went through the city, saw Wicked for the fist time, and just had a blast being together. It was a short trips, but we had a great time. Do you know what made that trip even better? This chocolate sauce. I honestly don't remember if we put this sauce on our ice cream, or if we just ate the sauce with a spoon. It is that good! You don't get hot fudge that tastes like this in the grocery store. There are so many reasons to make things from scratch, but taste alone is enough for me!

Heavenly Hot Fudge

1/2 cup (1 cube) butter
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 pint whipping cream
dash of salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbs corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter and chocolate together over low heat. stir in whipping cream, salt, sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla. Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring occasionally. For a thick hot fudge bring mixture to 235 degrees. If you like your chocolate a little thinner boil until mixture reaches 220 degrees. Serve warm over ice cream (or just eat it with a spoon).

Cinnamon Ice Cream

My husband and I have been fortunate enough to go on a couple of cruises. We absolutely love cruises. Our 2 favorite cruises have one thing in common...ice cream! Now the ice cream itself didn't necessarily make the cruises our favorites, but they sure didn't hurt. The first cruise we went on together was a Disney cruise in the Caribbean. It was amazing. We had a great time, but here is where the ice cream comes in. On Disney's private island they had soft serve cookie dough ice cream! Soft Serve! This ice cream wasn't just flavored like cookie dough, no it actually had chunks of cookie dough in it. I didn't even know that was possible with soft serve. It was probably the best cookie dough ice cream I have ever had. We pretty much camped out by the ice cream lady for a while, but sadly we had to leave the island and now it is just a very very fond memory in my head. Now our other favorite cruise was our recent cruise to Alaska on Holland America. Everything was wonderful on this cruise (don't even get me started on their amazing ceramic loungers), but one day we went to the ice cream counter (a daily/multiple times a day activity for us) and they didn't have cookies n cream ice cream that day. Cookies n cream ice cream is typically my favorite. I was slightly saddened, but decided to branch out. The fun flavor of the day was cinnamon. We decided to try it, and it has forever changed our life. Cinnamon ice cream in a waffle cone might be one of the most awesome things in life. For the next few days of the cruise we got at least one (notice the at least part) of those ice cream cones a day. On the second to last day of the cruise they decided to switch out their flavors again. We were devastated. By this time we were on a fist name basis with the ice cream guy. His name was Zaldy (very cool name). At the end of the day we gave him such a hard time about not having the cinnamon ice cream he said he would try and find some for the next day. Zaldy came through for us! We got the eat one last amazing cinnamon waffle cone before we had to go back to reality. When I got home I just knew I had to search out and find a recipe for cinnamon ice cream. I tried a couple different recipes, but this one was by far my favorite and most similar to the wonderful ice cream on the cruise!

Cinnamon Ice Cream

1 cup (240ml) whole milk
¾ cup (150g) sugar *
pinch of salt
four 3-inch (8cm) cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 cups (480ml) heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks and 1 cup (240ml) of the cream in a medium saucepan. When it comes to a boil, cover, remove from the heat and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour – mine steeped for almost 2 hours.
Rewarm the cinnamon-infused milk mixture; pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
Stir the mixture constantly over medium-low hear with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula – do not let it boil.
Pour the custard through the strainer into the cream and discard the cinnamon sticks. Set aside to cool then refrigerate for at least 5 hours.
Freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.


*If you prefer to use honey as your sweetener of choice reduce to 1/2 cup honey. The honey does give it a slightly different taste but is still amazing.

Here is another great way to eat this ice cream! I used my perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe and voila! Heaven!

Recipe Source: Technicolor Kitchen

Browned Butter and Sour Cream Cornbread

Those of you that know me, or who read my blog frequently might know that I have an affinity toward browned butter. I have used it in several recipes, and have always loved the results. It adds such a richness to the flavor of things. Well today when I was at work I saw this recipe and knew I had to try it! This corn bread is not too sweet. It is a perfect sweetness for spreading some honey butter or just honey on top.

Browned Butter and Sour Cream Cornbread

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups stone-ground cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream

Instructions

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling often until lightly browned and nutty, about 4 minutes. Pour into a medium bowl, and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub an 8-inch cast-iron skillet with the oil; place in oven to heat.

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Add eggs and sour cream to cooled butter, whisking well. Pour into dry ingredients, and stir just to combine, taking care not to overmix. Pour batter into skillet. Bake until golden and a toothpickinserted in the center comes out almost clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in skillet 5 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack.

Recipe Source: Relish

Lemon Cake with Lemon Filling

My husband and I took the long way home the other day and decided to go on one of our favorite drives. It is this beautiful drive that takes us up over one mountain and down into another valley. We accidentally stumbled upon this road when we were trying to take the scenic route home, but took the wrong scenic road. We ended up in city we weren't planning on going to, but it was totally worth the few extra miles. Luckily around here all of our cities are pretty close so it didn't take us that much longer to get home.I have been talking about the fall colors recently and how I love them. I just thought I would first share with you all a little glimpse of how our mountains are looking right now.

There still is a surprising amount of green up in the mountains so we plan enjoying the beautiful fall colors more over the next week or two.

Ok now on to more drool worthy topics. It was my brother in law's birthday last weekend and I was lucky enough to make his birthday cake. He had some very specific requests as to what kind of cake he wanted. He wanted a lemon cake with lemon filling, cream cheese frosting, and lemons dipped in sugar on it. I set out to meet this challenge, just hoping it would turn out well. I personally think that lemons are often forgotten, or not valued as they should be. I would have never thought to make him a lemon cake, but let me tell you I was sure glad that I did. The cake turned out delicious. Everyone really enjoyed the cake. The cake itself had a mild lemon flavor, the filling is tart and very lemony, and the cream cheese frosting has a little bit of tang all on its own that was absolutely delicious. I used the whipped cream cream cheese frosting that I posted the other day and it was perfect! I hope this post reminds you all of how much you love lemons!

Lemon Cake with Lemon Filling

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon extract
3/4cup milk
1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup white sugar
4 egg yolks, beaten

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8 inch round pans. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla, lemon extract, and lemon juice. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

To make filling: In medium saucepan, mix together 1 tablespoon lemon zest, 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1 tablespoon cornstarch until smooth. Mix in 6 tablespoons butter and 3/4 cup sugar, and bring mixture to boil over medium heat. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. In small bowl, with a wire whisk, beat egg yolks until smooth. Whisk in a small amount of the hot lemon mixture. Pour the egg mixture into the sauce pan, beating the hot lemon mixture rapidly. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes, or until thick (not to boil).

Pour mixture into medium bowl. Press plastic wrap onto surface to keep skin from forming as it cools. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate 3 hours.

To assemble the cake, trim off any excess on the top of each cake so that when they are placed on each other they will sit as flat as possible. Place bottom cake layer on a cake pan. Spread with lemon filling. Place second layer on top of filling. Frost as desired.


Recipe Source: Adapted from Allrecipes

Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting

This frosting is so good that I think it deserved its own post. I absolutely love cream cheese frosting. I think they are heavenly especially when combined with some sort of delectable cake or brownie.  Most cream cheese frosting are heavy and rich (not a bad thing if you ask me). This cream cheese frosting is light and airy, but yet still full of flavor. It would go perfectly on just about any cake. I used it on a delicious lemon cake that I will post in a couple of days.

Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (at room temperature
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions
In a small bowl chilled beat whipping cream until very stiff peaks form (if you beat it any longer it will probably turn into butter); set in the fridge.
In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream. Frost cake as desired.

*Note: This is a very soft light frosting. I was able to frost a 2 layer cake with it and pipe with it a small amount, but this is not an ideal frosting for piping, but it is an ideal frosting for eating so do with it as you please. This is also a delectable fruit dip.


Recipe Source: Adapted from Allrecipes

Soft Caramel Popcorn

I have a battle that goes on within myself every time I want to make caramel popcorn. The battle isn't whether or not I should make it. No, it is whether to make a gooey popcorn or a crunchy popcorn. I love them both for different reasons. A few years ago I thought I was a gooey person all the way. I then decided to make a crunchy popcorn and couldn't stop eating it. It has been a while since I have made this soft gooey popcorn and now I can't stop eating this one either. The moral of the story is that caramel popcorn is divine no matter what form it comes in!

Soft Caramel Popcorn

1 cube butter (1/2 cup)
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 bag (1 lb) brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add corn syrup and brown sugar. Bring mixture to a boil. Once boiling mix in sweetened condensed milk. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until mixture almost reaches a soft ball stage. I like mine a little softer so I brought it to about 220 degrees. Pour over one large bowl popped popcorn. I used air popped popcorn but microwave popcorn works well too. I used about 1 cup un-popped popcorn that turned into one large bowl of popcorn. Use more or less popcorn depending on how much caramel you like on your popcorn.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I must first start off by telling you all that I just got home from a fabulous Alaskan cruise! In case you didn't know the average cruiser gains 1-2 lbs per day per cruise. That is horrible! That means on my 7 day cruise I could have gained 7-14 lbs. Wow! Luckily I didn't gain that much (it is hard not to gain a few). The reason everyone gains so much is because there is so much food available at all times. Not only is there a lot of food, but it is good food. The only thing I was disappointing by was their Alfredo sauce. Sadly that didn't live up to my likings, but everything else was fantastic. I had some of the best soups I have ever eaten, and their french toast was amazing! I will say that the most amazing part of an Alaskan cruise isn't the food. Alaska truly is beautiful! It might have rained almost every day, we had to avoid the open seas because there were 60 foot swells, and we had to make some changes to our itinerary due to the bad weather, but it was still incredible! I think my favorite place was a fjord named Tracey's Arm. This was our detour since we weren't able to make it to Hubbard glacier but it was stunning. I have never seen so many waterfalls in my life. Did you know that there really is blue ice? I always though it looked blue because of the ocean or sky, no it is actually blue. It is breathtaking.  Just imagine being surrounded by green mountains, waterfalls, and blue ice floating in the ocean! If you haven't been to Alaska and have an opportunity to go, take it!

Well the reason that I bring up our cruise (beside the fact that I am still in awe by it) is that after eating your weight in amazing food it is nice to get back and eat some simple home cooked food. The reason their food tastes so good is because it is not lacking in grease of fat. I am pretty sure 99% of the food we ate wasn't very good for us. This is fine for a week but we were really excited to eat our oatmeal for breakfast when we got home. Next I had to use the bananas that had gone very brown while sitting in my fruit bowl while we were gone. What is the best thing to do with old bananas? Of course I had to make this banana bread. This recipe is a healthified version of my mom's banana bread. Yes I do like to make up my own words on occasion.  Eating foods like this is such an easy way to get in your whole grains and fruits! Yes I also like to justify my eating of anything sweet. Enjoy.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 ripe bananas mashed
2 tbs chia seed (optional)
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp soda

Prepare 2 bread pans by lining them with tin foil. Spray the tin foil with cooking spray. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add bananas and chia seed. Add flour and soda. Pour into prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool before serving.

Apple Crisp

Years ago I was at a group function where dessert was served. I have always loved apple crisp so I was excited when I found out that was the dessert. I took one bite and realized that there was an amazing explosion of flavors in my mouth. I knew I had to have the recipe. The best part of this recipe is that it is so simple. When she told me how to make it I was amazed that something that tasted so great could possibly be so easy. This is my go-to recipe whenever I need to make something that is delicious but don't have a lot of prep time.

*Note: I have used the homemade cake mix for this recipe ever since I discovered the recipe for homemade cake mix and I LOVE it. You can use a box cake mix instead of the homemade version but trust me the homemade results are fantastic and you know exactly what is in it. I keep the homemade cake mix in the freezer and use it whenever I need so it is just as easy as using a box mix. If you do use a box mix just know you will need to use more butter.

Apple Crisp

1 large can apple pie filling (I used some homemade apple pie filling I canned last year)
2-3 cups homemade cake mix (you could used a box cake mix if desired)
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 tbs butter melted

Spread apple pie filling in a 9X13 pan. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over top of pie filling. Sprinkle brown sugar over cake mix.  Drizzle melted butter over brown sugar. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Enjoy with ice cream or whipping cream on top.

Zucchini Bread

Just when I think our zucchini plant is slowing down it goes and produces a million more zucchini! Luckily I have a few zucchini recipes up my sleeve that I haven't shared with all of you yet!

First I must tell you that my husband and I are currently on a chia seed kick! I blame my mom for this! I had never even heard of the stuff until we were over at their house. They eat it in their oatmeal almost every morning. My husband has since spent the last few weeks reading about chia seed and all its wonderful properties. Come to find out chia is quite good for you and keeps you full longer. You might have noticed that I added chia to these waffles. I also added it to this bread. Please note that the chia seed is completely optional, but it does add a little extra nutrients if you happen to have it on hand.

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs, beaten                                                                                               
1 cup oil
2 cups brown sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
2 cups zucchini, grated fine or pureed 
1/4 cup chia seed
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp soda
1/2 cup turbinado or raw sugar
 
Grease 2 loaf pans with either butter, shortening, or coconut oil. Sprinkle 1/4 cup turbinado or raw sugar in each pan. Shake sugar around the bottom and sides of pan to coat all sides (as if you were flouring the pan but with sugar).  Sprinkle chia seed in the bottom of a medium size bowl. Place a fine mesh strainer over bowl. Pour grated or pureed zucchini with all its juice in strainer and allow to drain into the chia seed. This will soften up the chia seed. Set aside and allow chia to soak up zucchini juices for at least 10 minutes. In a stand mixer beat eggs. Add oil brown sugar and vanilla. Add 2 cups drained zucchini. Using a fine mesh strainer pour soaked chia seed into strainer to drain any excess liquid. Add chia seed to mixture. Next add whole wheat flour, white flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and soda. Mix until well combined.  Place batter in 2 loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. (I doubled the batch and made 3 loaf pans and 1 bunt pan).

Homemade Yellow Cake Mix And A Winner!

First things first I am going to announce the winner of the giveaway! The lucky winner of When Life Gives You Kids from Lemon Poppy Cakes is Shirin Rose over at Diary of a Messy Kitchen. I will email you shortly to finalize all the details!

I love making things from scratch. It is one of the things I love most about this blog and baking. I love finding something that I usually would buy from the store and making it from things I have in my house. I feel that it is healthier, more fun, and usually tastes better. This cake mix is no different. This cake mix could be accredited for the beginning of my food blog escapades. My sister in law told me that there was this site that had a recipe for a homemade cake mix. I thought this was the most wonderful idea ever. She gave me the link to Mel's Kitchen Cafe and I fell in love. I fell in love with the recipe, with food blogs, and with all things foodie. I started following several food blogs and loved all the different recipe ideas. I love that I can go to the internet and find a recipe for just about anything I want to make. It really is amazing and this recipe is the one that could have started it all. Now back to the recipe. I really do love this recipe. Not only is it great as a cake, but what I really use it for most is for crisps or any dessert that calls for a yellow cake mix. The flavor is so much better (notice I didn't mention anything about healthier). I do love this cake mix and love that I can keep it in my freezer and use it whenever I need it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

*Makes enough for two 9-inch layer cakes (bake according to recipe), or one 9X13-inch cake (bake for 30 to 35 minutes), or one 12-cup bundt pan (bake for 40 to 45 minutes), or 24 cupcakes (bake for 18 to 20 minutes)

*Note: the recipe calls for cake flour, which I never have on hand so I substituted 2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour and 3 tablespoons cornstarch for the three cups of flour called for in the recipe. It worked beautifully.

2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons butter (2 sticks), cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Process sugar, flours (or flour and cornstarch if making the substitution for the cake flour), milk powder, baking powder, and salt in a food processor for 15 seconds to combine. Add butter and vanilla and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal (you want this much finer than, say, a pie crust). Freeze the dry mixture in a zipper-lock bag for up to 2 months or use immediately.

To make the cake, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour your pan of choice (see the note above the recipe). With an electric mixer, beat the prepared cake mix, 1 1/4 cups warm water and 2 large room-temperature eggs until the mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan(s) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-27 minutes for two 9-inch layer cakes. See the note above the recipe for alternate cooking times with other baking pans. Cool the cake(s) in pan(s) for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Cool completely.

Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Chocolate, Sea Foam, and Pate De Fruit

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

I chose to do a few of my favorite candy recipes. Sea foam or honeycomb is something I first tried in Canada years ago. I have since had it several times and it continues to be one of my favorites. I didn't quite know how this would turn out since I have never even dreamed of making sea foam. The first experience was less than perfect. The candy itself tasted ok, but I left it out on the table uncovered for a few hours and when I came back I found that my sea foam was melting and gooey. This would not do since I wanted to dip the sea foam in chocolate. I also wanted a slight honey flavor so this gave me the opportunity to try again. This second recipe I liked even better than the first as far as taste goes. I was also quite a bit smarter and as soon as it cooled I stored it in an airtight zip lock bag. I didn't get around to dipping it for about a week and it still turned out wonderful.

Sea Foam

75 grams honey (1/4 cup)
140 grams light corn syrup or glucose (1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon)
400 grams sugar (2 cups)
20 grams baking soda (3 1/2 teaspoons)

Prepare a sheet pan (preferably with sides) with a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil and brush it with a thin coating of butter or oil. If you have a silpat, put that down and forgo the grease. Set aside.

Combine the honey, corn syrup and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan--one large enough to allow the mixture to quadruple in size (which it will do when you add the baking soda at the end). Moisten the mixture with enough water so that there are no dry patches of sugar; then wash down any stray sugar crystals that might be clinging to the side of the pan.

Set the pan on high heat and cook and cook and cook until a candy thermometer reaches 300 F or, if you don’t have a thermometer, until the mixture turns a light amber color. While the mixture is cooking, do NOT stir it at all. Stirring can cause the sugar to seize (one moment it’s fine, one moment it’s hard and crystallized). Don’t worry about it mixing properly, it will do that on its own when it starts to boil.

When the honeycomb is sufficiently cooked, take the pan off the heat. Dump in all of your baking soda and whisk vigorously until it is well combined; while you whisk, the honeycomb will foam up dramatically. After the soda is whisked in, gently pour the mixture out onto a prepared pan and allow to cool completely, about one hour.

Once cool, break into smaller pieces and dip in chocolate if desired. Store in an airtight container. Really, we mean airtight. A rubbermaid wrapped in plastic inside a ziplock freezer bag would be good. (Honeycomb is hygroscopic, meaning that it sucks in moisture from the air, leaving an unprotected initially crisp candy sticky and gooey in a matter of hours.)

Sea Foam : Recipe Source: Seattlest

I will be honest I had never heard of Pate De Fruit, but when looking at different candy options I knew that this one would be delicious! I have always loved gummy candies but never dreamed of making my own. This candy is so delicious and full of fruit flavor. I loved making it and eating eat!

Raspberry Pate de Fruits

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

2/3 cup water

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup, seedless raspberry jam (or a cup of your favorite jam)

Vegetable oil for coating the pan

Additional granulated or superfine sugar for sugar coating

Oil an 8-inch square pan. Set it aside. In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/3 cup water. Let the gelatin soften at room temperature until needed. Combine the remaining 1/3 cup water and the granulated sugar in a heavy medium saucepan. Place the pan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil. Add the jam and stir until it melts into the syrup completely. Add the softened gelatin and stir until the gelatin dissolves completely.

Return the mixture to a boil and cook until thermometer reaches 225 degrees. Remove the pot from the heat and pour the syrup into the prepared 8-inch pan. Place the pan in the refrigerator until the candy is set, at least 4 hours.

Use a wet knife to cut the candy into small squares. Using a narrow spatula dipped in water, carefully remove one square at a time and coat each one completely with sugar. Store the candies in layers, separated by wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 weeks.

Pate De Fruit: Recipe Source: A Chow Life

Ginger Cookies and a Giveaway!

I am so so so excited about today's post! First of all this is my very first giveaway and I am so excited about it! Second I have a super yummy recipe to share with you straight out of the cutest little cookbook I have ever seen. And last of all it is Friday!

So to get you all excited for this giveaway I am sharing with you one of the recipes out of this adorable cookbook. Ali over at Lemon Poppy Cakes has done such a great job putting together her cookbooks and they are full of fun family friendly recipes. She has 4 of the cutest cookbooks with another one coming next month! Let me just tell you the names of the cookbooks and you will begin to see how cute they are. Her 4 books are: When Life Gives You Lemons, When Life Gives You Friends, When Life Gives You Chocolate Cravings, and When Life Gives You Kids. She sells her books for only $8.99 and free shipping (what a great deal!) but one of you lucky winners will get a free copy of When Life Gives You Kids! I will go over guidelines in a moment but first lets get to this yummy recipe!

Gingerbread cookies are often something you think of only around Christmas time. They are such a yummy treat and so fun to do with kids (or adults) that I think they deserve more recognition all year. These cookies can be made into gingerbread people or you can make them round and eat them as is. They are great either way. I am posting this recipe straight out of her cookbook so you can get a feel of its cuteness!

 

Now if that doesn't make you want to win or buy her cookbooks I don't know what will! 

Here is how it works: I am giving away one copy of When Life Gives You Kids! You can enter one of two ways:

1. Become a fan on my Facebook page. If you are already a fan than you are already entered.

2. Become a follower on my blog. Once again if you are already a follower than you are already entered.

3. Leave me a comment telling me you are a fan or a follower. Leave a one comment for each entry (you should have a total of 2 comments if you are a fan and a follower). Please also leave me an email address so I can contact the winner.

The contest ends Monday Aug. 29th and I will post the winner on Wednesday Aug. 31st so check back often! Good Luck!

This contest is for US residents only.

Last of all since you are out in cyberspace becoming a follower and fan of various pages you should also follow Ali over at Lemon Poppy Cakes and become a fan of her facebook page as well.