Cupcakes

Do you ever feel the need to bake? I do. Sometimes the feeling gets so deep that all I can imagine doing is throwing caution to the wind and baking. Anything and everything. Cookies; brownies;  cakes and cupcakes. It's harder than I thought, baking with a baby. But now that I can start to time some of my peanuts naps I can bake.

Which means one thing....look out readers for new recipes that I am going to try.

Ciao,

Cookies

For a non baby related post....cookies.

I want to bake cookies, so does anyone have any ideas? I was thinking my classic chocolate chip cookies, oh and the caramel sugar cookies are yummy too. Maybe oatmeal? Hmm...I need some new cookie ideas so please share them with me (recipes too) and I will attempt to make them!
Ciao,

New Book

Today  I spent time with my mom. It was a great and relaxing. I had some energy to be able to go out and about...of course I started to yawn halfway through which isn't very fun.

But I feel so blessed. My mom took me out to eat, and bought me some new clothes to wear (for when I start to show) I don't have any maternity clothing yet, but I do have some nice new stretchy clothes. I changed into a pair of the capris right away and it felt so much better than my jeans. Even though my jeans are too big and falling off my butt, it's just nice to have stretchy, comfy clothing on.

But, on to the new book. My mom and I went to Barnes and Noble today and she let me pick out a book to read. I think I did a post a while back about ow I love to carry books with me. It gives me something to do when there is down time, or when I have to wait. I love going to the library but sometimes, I just want to be able to have a nice new book of my own.

I picked out  Meet me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan.

Source

It is book with recipes. Which makes me super excited to be able to curl up and read it. 

Ciao,

Birthday Cake!

It's J's birthday today. He's turning a big.....well, he is getting close to entering his mid twenties. And he is well not doing a great as one would be doing around their birthday. He seems to be a bit depressed. I thought maybe making him a healthy cake would help him. (And by healthy I mean less than 310 calories)

Tuscan Cake with Citrus Compote

( I did make some substitutions- they will be in Pink!)

Cake:

• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons of EVOO(extra-virgin olive oil) - I didn't have enough oil (opps) so I used 1 1/2 tablespoons of  pure vegetable oil (Don't tell)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp grated grapefruit ring (My grapefruit was bad so I used clementines instead)
• 1/1/2 tsp grated lime rinds
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1( 6 ounce) container of plain yogurt. (I use Greek yogurt which involved math- ugh- I found out that between 2/3 and 3/4 cup is 6 ounces. Remember there are 8 ounces to a cup NOT 16 like I thought) 
• 1 1/4 Cup of flour
• 1/4 cup of cornmeal- the first time I have ever used cornmeal in cooking.
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat over to 325 degrees.
2. Grind up the limes and clementines

   3. Place sugar and oil in a large mixing bowl; beat at high speed 2 minutes or until well blended.  

    

 4. Add the egss 1 at a time and beat well after each addition,

 5. Add the rinds, yogurt, and vanialla; beat until just combined.

             

6. Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder and salt, stirring with a whisk (A whisk is very important)

                                             

7. Add the flour mixture to the oil mixture and stir with a whisk until just combined. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. 

            

 For the Compote:

• 2 large Red grapefruit ( I didn't have those so I used clementines)
• 4 Large Oranges
• 2 tbsp of fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp of lemon juice
• 3 tbsp of honey
• 1/8 tsp of cinnamon

1. Peel the fruit, reserve the juices and set the fruit in a medium bowl.

              

2. Combine  the reserved juices, lime and lemon juice in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Stir in the honey and cinnamon. Simmer until syrupy. Cover and chill for 30 minutes, mix with the fruit and pour over the cake. 

And the Cake!!!!

 So, while I was making the cake I did have a helper. (or someone who wanted to help)

(Hey Mommy what are you doing? Can I help?)

(Is that for me?)

(I can't believe I couldn't lick the spoon)

Ciao,                    

OH Pintersting Wednesday- sweet tooth

It's time to link up and share what I have been pinning, courtesy of

Lately I've been having a sweet tooth. I know, I know. It's not good for my health, but just becasue I don't eat it, doesnt mean I can't pin it.

Source: pincookie.com via Danielle on Pinterest

Cookies and brownies- that sounds so yummy

Source: cupcakesgarden.com via Danielle on Pinterest

Caramel apple cupcakes...who thinks of these?

Source: annies-eats.com via Danielle on Pinterest

Chocolate, chocolate chip cookies

Source: motherthyme.com via Danielle on Pinterest

Lemon sugar cookies- I really do love lemons. I can't wait until my lemon tree is old enough to produce them. 

And a cute little pup.

Source: teacupspuppies.com via Danielle on Pinterest

What have you been pinning lately?

Ciao,

Christmas cookies.

Today I made Christmas cookies. They are for my basketball team and for a party that I'm going to on Saturday.  I made three different kinds.

1. Gingerbread cookies.

They are decorated like little basketball players.(I think my team will like that) I sadly do not have any tips for making gingerbread cookies. (Or for decorating them well) I have never made gingerbread cookies before, so I cheated and used store made dough, but the frosting is homemade. The only advice I do have is gingerbread is suppose to be soft and fluffy- you do not want to over bake the cookies.

2. I made as I like to call them Caramel Sugar cookies.

(The dough looked and smelled very yummy)

I got the recipe from Pinterest which lead me here.
 I did make some variations to the recipe. Instead of waiting for brown flecks to appear- I waited until the butter was brown. I also didn't cool it all the way and mixed some sugar in to caramelize it . I made the dough according to the recipe and it looked and smelt like those caramel candies.  Lastly, I cooked them for 10 minutes instead of 12.

I don't like my cookies too brown- ( As you can see in the above picture) so I took them out while they were a light brown. (As you can see in the below picture)

Another thing I noticed was that the cookies went flat. I feel that if I experiment with this recipe more, the cookies will be less flat and more cookie like.

And.I topped them with Peppermint Frosting.

3. Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.- I was the most excited to make these. They are the little chocolate cookies with the Hersey's kiss in the center.  I made the dough as directed and  then baked them as directed. Having never  made them before, I didn't want to deviate and go off on my own with the recipe. 

I feel that I should have. After making the cookies and following everything to a T the cookies looked like an EPIC fail. Therefore, no pictures will be shown of the epic fail cookies.  But some thoughts will be made.

• I noticed that there is no butter or margarine or shortening used at all in the recipe. I feel having something of that would help a lot. The cookies can out of the oven fluffy but then the sank down like souffle when I pressed the kiss into them.
• I think I would adjust the amount of flour, sugar and such as well. The cookies expanded a lot on the cookie sheet. I don't think they were suppose to do that. 
• Maybe roll them in regular sugar and powdered sugar?

4. Frosting- I used a plain vanilla Frosting for the cookies. I then added different extracts for different flavors  The gist of frosting is to make sure everything is cold (the pan, the beaters, the sugar) the only item you may want warm is the butter and even that you don't want it to get too close to room temp. When frosting, always, take what you need and keep the rest in the fridge. When done, place everything (cookies and all) in the fridge. It will keep the cookies soft and the frosting tasting yummy.

Well, ciao for now

Pinteresting Sundays plus a little extra

December has arrived, and there is no snow :( But there is one thing in the air, Christmas. I love Christmas. It's my favorite Holiday for many reasons. The main one being, it's Jesus birthday. To show how much I love Christmas, I'm making this December's Sundays all about things I pinned which are great for the holidays.
 Let us start with DESERTS!

Chocolate and peppermint

more yumminess (is that even a word?)

This pin has a ton of ideas for Christmas cookies

More cookies

Red velvet dirt cake

These pins and more can be found on my baking page

Now on to the little extra

Winston!

My little dog is in a contest and I need your help. Each week, the dog with the most votes, get so be crowned dog of the week and gets a prize from the book  A Dogs Purpose.   Winston is in the contest, and I would love for him to be dog of the week. What I need is for people to vote him( you can vote for him once every 2 days) until he wins. Please?  The like will be provided below. How one votes is pretty simple- you don't need to register, all you do is click the number of starts you want to give him.  To vote for him please go  here

  Thank you and keep pinning :)  
Ciao,

Almond banana cake

It's fall and the time to be thankful With so many things I have to give thanks for, one of them is my passions. Today I'm going to talk about how I'm thankful to have interests and passions and I'm sharing a recipe.  After making banana bread with my kiddos at work, I was craving something for home. Since I already had left over banana bread, and left over bananas, I was thinking I could make something with the bananas. Searching through my baking supplies, I found a bunch of almonds(Yum) and then decided to have a relaxing Friday and bake a cake.

Almond Banana Cake:

• 1&1/2 Cups of flour
• 2/3 C of sugar
• 3 small bananas (or 2 big ones)
• 1 &1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 &1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1/2 C of softened butter
• 1/4 C of milk
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 Cup of Chocolate chips
• 1/2 Cup of sliced almonds
• Glaze (see below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Mash bananas
2. Cream Butter and sugar together. Add banana, extracts, lemon juice, egg and milk. Cream that together.
3. Add all the dry ingredients, chocolate chips and almonds. Mix until blended. (a few lumps are okay)
4. Pour into a 9 in circular cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes  When done take out of the oven and cool. Add glaze when completely cooled.

Almond glaze

• 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract
• 1 teaspoon of melted butter

Mix all the ingredients together until think and sugar is dissolved  pour on top of cake. Cover with sliced almonds. Enjoy. 

Tips

• When cooling cake set in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. 
• When setting glaze on cake, pour it evenly all over cake
• Can use raisins instead of chocolate chips. 
• When done, keep cake in fridge. 

Well readers. I provided something I'm thankful for (my love of baking) and a recipe. Come back tomorrow for more. 

Ciao,

Day 4 and Pinteresting Sundays

With doing 30 day's of Thanks, I have decided to not do my usual "let's talk Fridays". But, since Pinterest is a pretty great site Why not share some pins and explain about how I can be thankful.
Mainly, everything in my baking board.

My mom taught me to bake, so the board, can represent my thankfulness for my mother. She is a great mom, wonderful and in fact I couldn't have asked for a better mom. She has been supportive of me for everything, and I know I can count on here.  I love her, and am super thankful to have her as my mom.

Rainy day, rainy day.

This morning I woke up with out power, but all set to go to a soccer game. As I was getting out of bed I received a text stating due to the inclement weather, there will be no soccer today. So what is a girl suppose to do on a cold, wet rainy day?

Thankfully the power was restored a bit ago, and after talking to my husband we decided today we would bake, and cook and just hang out at home (maybe even throw on  a movie and I would knit while it is playing.)

So, for dinner my ever famous short and small chili (found here) and for fun we are making lemon almond biscotti!  Look for a post a bit later on how the biscotti went. And for those of you in a rainy state, stay dry and warm.
Ciao,

(2:27 PM)

 Making the Biscotti,

Today  Jeff and I made  Lemon almond biscotti and ice cream cake. For both of them used recipes from 3 books in 1-100 calorie snacks, 200 calorie desert,300 calories main dishes which I got at Barnes and Nobles.  

For the ice cream cake I used one of those graham cracker pie crusts. I mixed all the ingredients together (I did do a variation on the ice cream flavor and the coffee that the recipe called for- I used french vanilla latte mix).  Right now I'm in the process of waiting for the cake to firm up. 

For the biscotti, Jeff followed the recipe book to a tea.  Right now it is baking. The house smells yummy between the biscotti and the chili. More to come when we taste it. 

Ciao,

 

A great fall day.

Today I experimented. I made homemade apple sauce.
I used 5 apples, brown sugar, white sugar, a lemon and a cinnamon stick. It tastes very yummy, and for those who like cinnamon, there is a huge cinnamon taste.  Since I didn't use exact measurements, I can't share the recipe here, but I can tell, that my house smells super yummy. It is making me feel that fall really is here. Between the applesauce, Church, cleaning, the dog park and football, I have to say this is a great fall day.

Yesterday, I went to Cran-fest. A festival of cranberries, in a town that is surrounded by cranberry bogs. It was really cool. There were lots of tents set up of people selling different items. I found some yarn for my next project- a sweater. I also got some cranberry salsa and some apple carrot butter. I don't know what to use them for yet, but they tasted very yummy. Maybe for entertaining? (If my husband and I ever do entertain some guests) Not only did I get some cranberry stuff, but I got to see how the cranberries are sorted and I met the old governor of WI. I had a great day yesterday.
Ciao,

Cookies

Today I made Chocolate Chip cookies.  I decided to use the following recipe. It is one that I have seen my mother use for a long time. Not having the recipe she uses, I have been experimenting and trying to get as close as I can to what she makes.   Below is what I have found today.  The cookies are quiet tasty.

(since my camera is broken, I found this picture on Google)

Soft and Chewy Chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup white sugar                                        1 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cups unsalted butter                                 3/4 Cups of  Crisco

2 teaspoons vanilla                                          3 eggs

4 cups flour                                                         ½ cup oatmeal

2 teaspoons baking soda                              ½ teaspoon salt

2 packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

•  Heat Oven to 375
• In large bowl beat sugar, brown sugar, Crisco and butter until light and fluffy
• Add vanilla and eggs, blend well.
• Slowly add flour baking soda and salt
• Stir in chips
•  Drop dough by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
•   Bake for 8-10 mins
•   Makes about 6 dozen cookies. 

   Tips:

     1. I found that making sure the butter is so soft, it is almost melted works very well on making the cookies soft and fluffy. 

    2. I have also found that keeping the Crisco cold is important in keeping the shape.

     3. Oatmeal really works well in chocolate chip cookies, you can't really taste it, but it is there holding the shape. 

   4. You want to make sure that there is enough chocolate chips in the recipe so that you get chocolate in every bite. 

Muffins

For those of you who don't know, I love to cook and bake. One thing I know I make pretty well (if I'm allowed to brag) are Muffins and Cupcakes. I do really well with the muffins that have fruit inside. So, I figured I would share some of my tips I guess. 
1. When making muffins with fruit-if they are berries (strawberries, blueberries and such) I usually take 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and sprinkle it over the berries. 
2. If making banana's I tend to use the ones that look all brown and ucky- they seem to have the best flavor for baking.
3. When I take them out of the oven, I let them sit in the pan for a few minutes. I then remove them from a pan and set them on racks but I cover them with a clothe for like 2 minutes
Now for cupcakes:
1. You can make them taste better if you substitute apple sauce for butter- they are also much healthier. 
2. If you want fluffy ones- I like to mix half butter and half Crisco (it's not as healthy, but makes them very fluffy)
3. Shift the flour more than once.
4. For frosting, not only does your materials need to be cold- but your cupcakes should be cold too. I always put my cupcakes or cakes in the freezer for 5 to 10 minute before I frost. 


Well, that's all I have for tonight. 
Caio

Jam!

Tuesday night...
So my upstairs neighbor had extra strawberries from strawberry picking. Yum yum yum! So I decided to make strawberry jam. I washed the berries, mushed them up, boiled them with sugar and lemon juice.  After that I put it in the fridge to become...for lack of a better word Jammy. Well, my patient was running low and I moved it to the freezer. I know if I had put Pectin in my jam, it would be jammy. but I don't relly like how jelly like pectin makes my jam. 
 Right now, my jam looks more like sauce.   :(


Wednesday.
I checked on my Jam after moving it back to the fridge before bed last night and ...It looks like jam! Yay! It tastes really yummy. So for those of you who want to try to make the Jam I did here is my recipe:

• Take straw berries- wash them, cut off the green part, mush up the strawberries, set aside. 
• In a sauce pan, put in about 2 cups of sugar for every pound of strawberries you have, and the Juice from one lemon for every pound of strawberries. 
• I then added the strawberries and boiled it all together.

That's about it. 

Caio