Coconut Cake..

So the very first recipe posted was a coconut cake and I was very excite because I really do love a good coconut fan.  I also thought oh no problem, I got this cause well damn it I can bake! I put it off and put if off. I decided I could do it for Easter, I ended up with Saturday and Sunday off and knew it was gonna take some work but I was sure I could do it.. I assumed of course!

Little notes, I could NOT find a can of coconut milk anywhere!! So I bought a box in the nutrition section of my local grocery store. Whether it was correct or not omg the flavor was unbelievable and well anyone who can drink coconut water.. High Five cause I choked it down and never will again! 
Now this cake has 4 steps before even putting it together; and reading the recipe I would say you should be a little familiar with each step in order to successfully make this cake. I have experience and still had a few issues!

The cake for instance, it is a very different way of mixing it together but it was pretty nifty. I think because of the wording of the recipe I was afraid to over mix the batter but now I think I lost building volume from my egg whites because I didn't mix it long enough.  The reason I think this is because once baked both cakes fell in the center. I spoke with the host of the recipe and she made cupcakes out of the recipe and all of her cupcakes fell as well. It could just be the recipe but perhaps one day I will test my theory and mix it longer. I also was not a huge fan of the cake layers themselves, though great flavor they were a bit like Genoise and that was a sponge cake I simply never truly liked. In the end chose to remake my layers with my favorite lazy cake mix adding coconut extract and moving on!

Next the syrup.. so easy and smells amazing! no tricks or problems there!!

The pastry cream.. this pastry cream could be the best thing EVER!! I fully intend to remake it and use it to make a coconut cream pie in the near future! My only issue was I think I needed to cook it longer just to thicken up a little bit more but I admit.. I licked many spoons.. had a few bites.. so on and so forth.. pretty sure you get my point ;).. I do think part of the flavor was that coconut milk. I will use it every time now!
Now.. the biggest issue.. the damn Swiss Buttercream.. ugh. I have gotten lazy yes.. but man why do I need to cook sugar to a degree and added it and beat it forever and hope it works! Obviously since this is the last note.. mine obviously did not work the first time.. see I started out with it and it was beautiful..

I do not deny just how proud I was that I got the sugar to the right point and my egg whites were whipping up beautifully. I whipped them for the 8 min to 10 min.. felt my bowl. It was barely warm and I thought I am ok.. right.. I think.. I hope. And I dropped literally half a tablespoon of butter in.. and 2 minutes later my beautiful egg whites were no longer beautiful.. The above picture is what you want and my next picture is definitely Swiss Buttercream failure!

Half a tablespoon!! Can you believe that!! I wanted to cry!!! Instead.. I washed my bowl and started over.. mostly because I happened to have 6 dozen eggs in my fridge and well.. what the hell.. I had the rest of the damn steps done why stop now! So.. I went through all my steps and this time.. I let those damn sugar syruped egg whites beat for 40 min lol.. they were gonna be damn cool by the time I added that butter! then.. finally it all came together and well. I was just too tired to take a picture of the bowl of icing. I wanted it put together and done ha-ha..

So I will stop running my mouth and give you the recipe! I am not sure where she got the recipe from but I do want to give someone credit so the name of the host of the recipe is Megan Herreid Pires and in the end.. as I still have cake to enjoy I am glad she posted it for our first challenge! I lied haha if I had read further I would have seen this:

"Recipe by: adapted from Zoë Bakes (coconut pastry cream), The Way the Cookie Crumbles (perfect white cake), SAVEUR (inspiration for assembly)" So that is where she got everything from! I feel better being ever to post at least some form of credit for this seriously coconut cake!

The Ultimate Moist, Fluffy, Ridiculous Coconut Cake  

Yield: 9-inch 4-layer cake
This is it. The ultimate coconut cake. Perfect white cake is drizzled with coconut syrup, filled with rich coconut pastry cream, and slathered with coconut Swiss meringue buttercream. If you love coconut, this one’s for you.

Perfect White Cake Ingredients:
2¼ cups cake flour (9 ounces)
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup coconut milk
6 large egg whites (¾ cup), at room temperature
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1 inch vanilla bean seeds)
1½ cups + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (11.35 ounces)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1½ sticks), softened but still cool

Coconut Pastry Cream Ingredients:
1 can (14 fluid ounces) unsweetened coconut milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch kosher salt
3 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup whipping cream

Coconut Syrup Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup coconut water

Coconut Swiss Buttercream Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites , at room temperature
24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
3 cups sweetened coconut flakes

Directions:
*NOTE ON TIMING: This cake has many steps, but none of them are particularly hard. For convenience, I’d split it up over 2-3 days. On the first day, bake the cake layers and let them cool before wrapping and freezing them. Make the coconut syrup and leave it covered in the fridge. On the second day, make the coconut pastry cream and frosting. Assemble the cake. Serve it then or on the third day.
Make the cake: Set oven rack in middle position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or butter/flour two 9-inch cake pans very well. Add a parchment paper circle in the bottom of each and grease that too. You don’t want your layers to stick! Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into a small bowl and whisk gently until blended.

In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks left.
Add all but about 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Scrape down the sides of bowl before beating just a little longer.

Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans and smooth the tops with a spatula before dropping it from about 3 inches high to eliminate any bubbles in the batter. Arrange pans on middle rack. Bake until a thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, 23 to 25 minutes. If you wait until the toothpick comes out totally clean, your cake might’ve gone too long and could be dry; be careful not to overbake! Check early and often.

Let the cakes rest in pans for a few minutes before running a knife around the edges of the pan and inverting the cakes onto wire racks. Invert them again so they’ll be right-side up and let them cool completeley, about 1 1/2 hours, before wrapping in wax paper and plastic wrap to freeze until pretty firm, about 30 minutes.
Make the coconut pastry cream: Heat the coconut milk, sugar, salt and vanilla bean or extract in a medium saucepan over medium heat. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and corn starch. Once the cream is hot, remove the vanilla bean (if used), scraping out any remaining seeds and returning them to the cream. Add 1/2 cup of the hot cream slowly to the yolks, whisking as you add, to temper the eggs so they won’t cook into an omelette in the middle of your pastry cream. That would be a bummer. Then pour the yolk mixture into the pot of hot cream and whisk. Continue to whisk with heat on medium-high for 3 more minutes. The mixture will turn thick and bubble. You need to continue to whisk for the full 3 minutes or the pastry cream will separate once it is cool. After the 3 minutes, whisk in the butter. Add the coconut flakes. Pour into a shallow dish to cool.

Cover with plastic wrap pressed right against the pastry cream. This will prevent a thick skin from forming on the surface. Refrigerate for at least an hour or freeze for 30 minutes. Once it is cold, stir the pastry cream to loosen. Whip the 1/2 cup cream to medium peaks. Stir in 1/3 to the pastry cream to lighten. Fold in the remaining cream until the pastry cream is nice and light. Avoid eating entire bowl of pastry cream with a spoon.

To make coconut syrup: Combine the sugar, water, and coconut water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool completely, about 20 minutes.
Make Coconut Swiss buttercream icing: Combine sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil without stirring until syrup reaches 240° on a digital thermometer, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer on medium speed, gradually pour in hot syrup in a thin stream; avoid pouring syrup on whisk. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until stiff peaks form and mixture is cool, about 8 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add butter 1 tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition. (If at any time buttercream appears curdled, beat on high until smooth, then reduce speed to medium and continue beating in butter.) Once all butter is added, beat on high speed until buttercream is smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla and coconut extract.

Assemble the cake: Carefully slice each cake layer in half with a long serrated knife. Drizzle a couple tablespoons of coconut syrup over the “inner” side (the one that seems most porous) of each layer. Spread 1/3 of the coconut pastry cream filling onto the first cake layer. Spread it almost to the edge, but pipe a thick bead of buttercream around the very outside edge of each layer to ensure no spillage. Sprinkle with flaked coconut. Repeat with the other layers. Frost the cake with a very thin crumb coat and set it in the freezer to set for about 15 minutes. Bring it out and continue frosting the rest of the cake generously. Carefully push handfuls of fluffy coconut all over the sides of the cake and on top. Keep the cake in the refrigerator, but let sit out for about 30 minutes before slicing and serving so the frosting will be soft.

This is one hell of a cake and will feed an army no doubt! Oh and I didn't get it made for Easter. When the cakes disappointed me, I remade the layers and waited til my next day off to make it lol.. either way I definitely am enjoying every slice I eat!

Chocolate Banana Cream Cake..

The main reason I started this little group is to try some new things and help others step out of their boundaries. I am not gonna lie, when this recipe popped up as the second recipe I thought eww. Which is weird considering I love banana's and love chocolate and well love frozen chocolate covered banana's so why am I just saying eww?!  I set out to just go with it and hope for the best! It is very easy to make and I did change a couple of things. The recipe calls for vanilla pudding and banana extract I opted to just use banana cream pudding. I use it when I make banana pudding so why not here. I also bypassed all the sugar free stuff just because ha-ha. I used Hershey's Hot Fudge sauce as well. I am not a fan of gelatinous hot fudge and I will tell you that the Hershey's sauce is pretty bomb! It was perfect drizzle and spreading consistency and well I am definitely a fan of it and have a bit left over of something else.. or perhaps to just remake this! The recipe is also found at Allrecipes.com and My husband and I ended up loving the end result! We ate the whole thing over the span of 5 days and when I planned to take it to work he said "you aren't taking it all are you!" so.. yea a slice was taken and that was it. The rest was all for us! I would definitely say try it because it was so good and I was pleasantly surprised. We will definitely have it again!!

Chocolate Banana Cream Cake 

Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray

1 (18.25 ounce) package Pillsbury®

Reduced Sugar Devils Food Cake

2 large eggs

2/3 cup CRISCO® Canola Oil

1 3/4 cups milk, divided

1 (1 ounce) package sugar free, fat free

instant vanilla pudding mix

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese,

softened

1 teaspoon imitation banana extract

1 (8 ounce) container sugar free frozen

whipped topping, thawed

1 (11.75 ounce) jar Smucker's® Sugar

Free Hot Fudge Spoonable Ice Cream

Topping

2 large bananas

1 teaspoon lemon juice

 

Directions:

 

1.	Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray bottom of a 9-inch round springform pan with no-stick cooking spray.
2.	Blend cake mix, eggs, oil and 3/4 cup milk in a medium bowl until moistened. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake 38-42 minutes. Cool completely.
3.	Blend pudding mix with 1 cup cold milk. In another bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Mix in pudding and banana extract. Blend in whipped topping. Remove 1 cup and reserve. Stir 2/3 cup fudge topping in small bowl until of spreading consistency. Slice bananas 1/4-inch thick. Dip 3 slices in lemon juice. Cover and reserve for garnish.
4.	Remove cake from pan. Cut in half horizontally. Cover bottom layer with fudge topping. Top with sliced bananas and remaining 3 cups pudding mixture. Cover with top cake layer. Spread 1 cup reserved pudding onto center of cake. Place 2 tablespoons fudge topping into a corner of a 1-quart resealable bag. Knead. Cut small corner off bag. Drizzle fudge topping over top of cake. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Garnish with reserved banana slices just before serving.

 I do think next time I may just use to 8 in round cakes instead of a spring form pan; It may just be easier. But I will say that every day that it sat it got better and better. We loved the filling and well the whole cake!!

A couple of Cakes....

We were asked to do a couple of cakes this year. One being a wedding cake for this past Sunday. Our friends Daughter and Partner were married and I had the pleasure of doing their wedding cake.

It was a simple 3 Tier White and Chocolate cake decorated in their favorite colors, Green and Purple.  I have not done a wedding cake in several years and though there are definitely things I wished I had done differently I am still quite happy with it! Will I do more.. well they stress me out and I am extremely limited on space so unless I am begged and paid well it could be some time before I do it again lol

The other cake we were asked to make is definitely a we project. My Hubby and I did his son's 7th Birthday cake in February! Similar to a wedding cake.. oh yes.. yes it was lol. He chose to have the Winter Olympics as his Birthday party theme and we had to figure out what to do. We came up with skiing and snowboarding!

It was quite the huge cake but in the end it was quite awesome! He loved it and several times we found him just gazing at it!

Erik and I were quite proud at how well we worked together and just how well it came out. It was a monster of a cake and it was loved! Our little man turned 7 and he had a blast!

Playing with Brownies...

I like to keep a handful of simplistic things on hand. I am all about from scratch but now and then I do not mind the use of convenience foods either. Brownie and cake mixes are one of them. I was scrolling through Pinterest not long ago and seeing all these fantastic brownies I had a craving. I had brownie mix on hand and my hubby loves PB cups so why not combine the two! This was super easy. I didn't want the cups mixed in but more like a layer on top. I can definitely see doing this with any other kind of chocolate candy.. especially Snickers or Peppermint Paddy's.. oh so yum! Either way here is my simple PB Cup Brownies!

PB Cup Brownies:   

Ingredients:

Your favorite box of Brownie Mix plus the ingredients to make it
12-16 regular sized PB Cups

Instructions:
1. Mix brownies following directions on package. Bake in a 8x8 pan and bake for the lowest time suggested. I baked mine for about 20 minutes. You want the brownies just almost done.
2. Place PB Cups upside down  and push them gently into the soft brownies.
3. Place brownies back into the oven of the last 5 maybe 10 minutes until brownies are just done (you want them slightly under done, on the fudgy side) and the PB Cups are melting. Because of the PB in the center the will not completely melt. When removed gently use a knife to spread the PB Cups a bit to make an icing. Be very careful!
4. Roughly chop about 4 more PB Cups and sprinkle on top of the brownies and let cool. I liked doing it this way because they melted slightly and adhered to the brownies.
5. Let the brownies cool completely, this is important. I put mine in the fridge to help.
6. Dig in!

They are quite rich so I cut them into about 12 pieces and I definitely had milk with each one. They are quite the indulgence and oh so good!!!!

Enjoy!

Banana Pudding Poke Cake

I have been seeing this Banana Pudding Poke Cake all over Pinterest and Facebook and since my family loves Banana Pudding I knew it was going to have to be made.  I looked at several links and felt there were could of things missing and determined that well a a recipe was definitely not necessary. 
Easter Weekend was coming and my family is quite non traditional, since we were going out for lunch on Saturday I could bring the cake for desert!
We like lots of banana's in our pudding and lots of Nilla Wafers so I added an extra layer of them between the pudding and the Cool Whip but I figure anyone that can make a boxed cake mix and whip up some pudding can easily throw this cake together and I am pretty sure that there are many possible variations to this as well!

Banana Pudding Poke Cake: 
1 box yellow cake mix, plus ingredients for it
2 small boxes instant banana pudding, plus ingredients ( I couldn't find the small boxes so I used 2 5.1oz packages which left me a little bit to make a couple individual banana puddings)(I used Skim milk to make the pudding and it came out great.)
1 tub Cool Whip ( I used Fat Free)
1 box Nilla Wafers
banana's to slice

1. Preheat oven based on the directions on the cake mix, Spray a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.  Prepare cake mix as instructed on box.  Bake as directed.  Let cool completely.
2. Once the cake is cool you will use the end of a wooden spoon and poke holes all over the cake. You need many holes so that the pudding will get all through the cake. 
3. Prepare the pudding as directed per box instructions. Mix until just beginning to thicken. It should not be fully set but not runny thin either!
4. Slowly poor the pudding mix all over the cake. I took a rubber spatula and spread it into every corner and then added more. I wanted a nice coating of pudding to cover the cake. Chill the cake in the refrigerator until fully set and the cake has soaked up pudding.
5. Fill a plastic bag with Nilla Wafers and crush. 
6. Take the chilled cake and top the pudding with a layer of banana's, I do a single layer all over the top of the cake. Sprinkle with a light layer of crushed Nilla Wafers.
7. Carefully take the Cool Whip and top the cake. Carefully covering it (at this point I feel I would definitely have added another half a tub of Cool Whip for a thick layer but I didn't have it!). 
8. At this point you can chill the cake over night, which is what I did, then top it with the rest of the crushed Nilla Wafers just before serving. Or serve right away topped with the wafers.

This simple twist on a great comfort dessert is so good! The family is strongly considering replacing our standby with this version! And my Grandpa, whom never knows what he likes anymore sadly, Loved it so that meant so much to me!!

PB-Oreo-Brownie-Cups?

Yea I really don't know what to call these babies but I can call them Yummy!!!! I wanted to make something for Valentines Day for my girls at work. I was completely set on some kind of cupcake but when I logged onto Facebook there was a picture of this brownie filled with Oreo cookies and Peanut Butter!  There were minimal instructions but I figured heck I can try this! There was no link just a picture that was linked to the Facebook page for Kiser Supply, Inc., so I can at least give them that credit for this very awesome suggestion! The instructions were pretty minimal so I winged it and now I have something to work with and oh the idea's flying through my head for these tasty treats! Definitely gonna try something with some Thin Mints! and I need to figure out a Blondie variation! I will say that it is important to find a good cupcake wrapper, I was told to try a foil one so they do not stick. Mine did have a few issues with the paper sticking but they were worth the fight! I will also pass on to make sure and bake for only 20 minutes! I think every minute after that may bring over baking. But seriously so easy and so damn good! I will also mention how much I love Instagram! I love playing with my phone to create pictures, some day I will pull off some awesome professional like pictures. Until then I am stuck with what I got ;).  I also went simple and did creamy peanut butter and basic brownie mix.. this is definitely gonna change ;)

 PB-Oreo-Brownie-Cups:

1 package Oreo cookies ( I actually went generic ;) )
Favorite creamy Peanut Butter
Favorite Brownie Mix

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Line 1 12 cup muffin tin as well as 6 of another pan with foil cupcake liners.
3. Take 1 Oreo top with PB and another Oreo and more PB.  See Picture.  Place the stack in the middle of each cupcake liner. (I did this all before making the batter).
4. Mix brownie batter according to package directions.  Using a medium scoop top each Oreo stack with a scoop of brownie batter. I tried to make sure they were fully covered but not so full that they would make a mess.
5. Place pans in a 350 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes. NO MORE! over baking can affect the texture and make the cookie bottoms very hard!
6. Cool and enjoy.. SO GOOD! 

So many possibilities.. I can't wait to try more!

Best Cinnamon Rolls!!

     Determined to bake something for Christmas Morning I decided that Cinnamon Rolls would be perfect.  I searched various sites and settled on Breadworld.com because Fleischmann's Yeast has always had good recipes for me! I followed the recipe exactly except for adding Pecan's for my Mommy and making 12 instead of 9 of the most wonderful cinnamon rolls ever!! I also broke the process into two steps making and cutting my rolls and chilling them then rising and baking in the morning.  It did take a little extra time to have the rise in the morning but they still worked out just fine. 
     I am pretty sure I will use these as my standby cinnamon rolls, though I will continue to play with other recipes but these will be my standby! I also searched for an icing recipe.  I didn't want just a glaze I wanted a gooey icing but not too sweet. I had some cream cheese and made a similar icing to a carrot cake. Not to sweet and right on the hot rolls its melted into cinnamon roll bliss!!

Grand Award Sweet Rolls

7 to 8 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 envelopes Fleischmann's® RapidRise Yeast
2 teaspoons salt 
1 cup water
1 cup milk 
2/3 cup butter or margarine 
2 large eggs 
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

In large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt.  Heat water, milk, and 2/3 cup butter until very warm (120^o to 130^oF).  Gradually add to flour mixture.  Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally.  Add eggs and 1 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed, scraping bowl occasionally.  Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

Roll dough to 15 x 12-inch rectangle.  Brush with melted butter; sprinkle with Cinnamon Filling and pecans.  Beginning at long end, roll up tightly as for jelly roll.  Pinch seam to seal.  Cut into 12 equal pieces.  Place, cut side up and 1 inch apart, on greased large baking sheet.  Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Bake at 375^oF for 20 to 25 minutes or until done.

**Cinnamon Filling:

Approximately 1 cup granulate sugar

Approximately 3 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Approximately 1 cup chopped pecans 

 
** I admit that I just used approximations on the cinnamon filling.  We are huge cinnamon people and I basically put a good scoop or two of sugar into a bowl and then added cinnamon until I was happy with the appearance of the mixture.  Create your filling to your liking.

Cream Cheese Icing: 

4 oz Cream Cheese, Room Temperature
1/2 c margarine or butter, Room Temperature
1 3/4 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place the cream cheese and the butter/margarine in the bowl of an electric mixer fit with the paddle attachment.  Beat until creamy and well mixed, about 5-10 minutes.  Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat until creamy and well mixed another 3 minutes.  Add the last 3/4 c of powdered sugar and continue to whip the icing to creamy consistency.  Add the vanilla and mix til blended.  Spread the icing on cinnamon rolls as soon as they come out of the oven.  The icing will slightly melt onto the rolls..amazing.

These are truly amazing and I will enjoy making them again for my friends and family. They are quite simple just a little time and patience.  If I have learned anything it is that making Cinnamon Rolls are not as scary to make as I thought they would be! A Great Giant Cinnamon Roll!

Maple Sticky Buns...

My Mom has taken to pulling recipes out of anything she finds for me.  Many of them come from an insert in our local newspaper, it is called Relish and can be accessed on line at Relish.com.  We find many interesting and yummy recipes from this insert and on line.  I have loved making sweet rolls and when Mom handed me this torn out recipes I was taken in.  A sticky bun that doesn't take yeast but looks so very good.  I had spent the day several weeks ago baking several batches of muffins for work and since I was in the kitchen I figured I should try them out.  This recipe was quite simple and I wouldn't hesitate to make it again or play with the filling. It was really good and we had them finished by breakfast.  They were definitely worth the try!!

Maple Sticky Buns

Ingredients

3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

12 tablespoons butter, divided

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Mix together walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
2. Bring maple syrup and 4 tablespoons butter to boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Boil 30 seconds, then scrape into a 10-inch cast iron or heavy skillet of pan. Top with one-third of walnut mixture.
3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add 7 tablespoons butter and mix until mixture resembled small peas. Add milk; stir gently, just until the mixture comes together.
4. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan.
5. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 5 or 6 times. Roll into a 9 x 12-inch rectangle. Brush with melted butter.

   6.Cover dough evenly with remaining walnut mixture, patting gently. Roll up  dough to for a 12-inch log,     pinching  seam to seal. Cut into 12 (1-inch) slices and place in pan. Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately invert onto a large plate (do this quickly, but carefully—the syrup is very hot). Scrape any syrup from pan and spread over buns. Serve warm or hot.

 Some day I may actually wake up early enough to have something this awesome for breakfast until then I am settled with enjoying it for dessert!

My First Pumpkin Pie..

This Thanksgiving we had to set things up at my Grandparents house, it was easier to travel for us than them and lately it is the best thing to do.  I decided that I would just make a couple simple desserts one of which had to be pumpkin pie for my Grandma.  I had initially wanted to make one I had seen on line that had a hint of orange and a meringue but we decided that part of the enjoyment for my Grandma was the whipped cream.  I decided that I would just make a good old Libby's Pumpkin Pie from the recipe on the can. I tweaked it by adding a little orange zest and made my own freshly whipped cream.  Of all the baking I have done never once did I make a pumpkin pie.  I picked a pastry recipe, just a simple one from my Great Grandma's Joy of Cooking cookbook and decorated it with little pastry leaves to make it festive.  I was very proud when it came out and my only regret was adding the zest of an entire orange. It did overwhelm so for the recipe I will leave out my tweak! It was a good idea and next time I will do only half an orange!

LIBBY'S® Famous Pumpkin Pie:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
• Whipped cream (optional)

Directions

MIX sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

POUR into pie shell.

BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving. 

 

For my whipped cream, I took a small cartoon and whipped it with powdered sugar to taste and a hint of vanilla.  Nothing beats fresh whipped cream!

Best Peanut Butter Cookies Ever!

So last year my Mom made these peanut butter cookies right of a Heath Toffee Bits package. Oh My Goodness were they awesome! I set out this year when she wanted us to bake one day to find that package in the store so we could make them again and of course to make sure I got the recipe on my blog. There is nothing I would change from this recipe they are so good. The best thing added to a peanut butter cookie was Heath Toffee Bits!!


Heath Bits Peanut Butter Cookies 

1/2 c shortening
3/4 c Peanut Butter
1 1/4 c packed light brown sugar
3 TBSP milk
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 8-oz package Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits, divided

1. Heat oven to 375
2. Beat shortening , peanut butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended.  Add egg, beat just until blended.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. Stir in 1 cup of toffee bits, reserve remained for topping
3.Drop by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto un-greased cookie sheet (I always use parchment paper); top each with reserved toffee bits.  Bake 7-8 minutes or until set. Do not over bake. Cool 2 minutes and remove to wire rack.  Cool completely
About 3 dozen cookies

These have moved up to the top of my most awesome cookie list!!

Chili and Cornbread in a Jar!

Chili and Cornbread Jars!

I had been intrigued since seeing pies in a jar and all the other things people were coming up with to use canning jars for.  I love to can my own jam and marmalade so of course I have jars around and they need to be used!  During a round on Pinterest ( A horrible addiction that needs to be broken!) I saw chili and cornbread baked in the jar.  The next week I found myself making chili for my mom and my chance had arrived!!

I will definitely do these again and can’t wait to do more things in jars!

Chicken Corn Chili… The original recipe comes from Food Network magazine Oct. 2011.  I tweaked it though!

For the Chicken:

I used 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts this time and poached it in a large pot of water with salt, spicy pepper and a generous shaking of dried cilantro. If I had not been lazy and entire quartered onion would have gone in as well. Once the chicken is cooked through just dice it up and continue on with the recipe.

For the Chili:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Serrano chili, minced (I used a whole can of chopped jalapenos undrained)

1 (4oz) can chopped green chilies (I did not drain my can)

A generous shake of cumin (recipe calls for 1 tsp but I just started shaking until I was happy lol)

3 cans of low-sodium chicken broth

4 15 oz cans white beans or pinto beans (2 undrained, 2 drained and rinsed)

2 cups frozen corn (recipe said thawed I just threw it in frozen and it was fine)

1 8 oz bar of pepper jack cheese, grated

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring, until slightly soft, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic, chopped Serrano chili, green chilies and cumin and cook, stirring, until the cumin is toasted about 2 minutes.  Stir in the chicken broth, chicken and beans (including the undrained liquid).  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer.  Stirring occasionally until thickened, about 15 minutes.

Stir in the cheese and corn.  Cook about 15 minutes until creamy and hot.

Fill jar size of choice halve full, I did pint jars because well that is a nice serving for me! I then just put my jar away until the next day; the chili was made for my Mom’s chili potluck at work.

The next day I came home and set the oven as directed on my cheap cornbread box, because well I was testing the idea and honestly was too tired from work to make my own cornbread, Jiffy it is! Once oven was set I put about 2 good heaping spoons of batter in my cold jar of chili and put it in the oven on a try.  I baked it for about 25min until golden and chili was bubbling in the jar. 

It was so cute!! The jar was awesome, from the fridge to the oven.   Remember they are canning jars and are meant to take the heat! I am up for doing so much with Jars now; I just kind of can’t help myself!

On a recent trip to the mountains I did banana pudding in a jar, my first use of the jars for something other than canning. So handy for picnics!!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

When I was looking at my big bowl of shredded zucchini I was trying to make a variety.  I looked for various possibilities and one of the websites I like to browse often is Allrecipes.com, I quite love the site and there are many great recipes on the site and it was there I found this one!  The only changes I made were to use hazelnuts (it was the only nut I had on hand so every batch that called for nuts got hazelnuts lol) and well if I make anything chocolate I believe that chocolate chips should be in there so I made sure to add a good hefty handful and a half of semisweet chocolate chips to the batter. It definitely hit the spot for a good chocolate craving! My mom who doesn’t really like chocolate loved it! Which is my fave of the 3.. heck I really am not sure, they were all sooo good!! 

Chocolate ZucchiniBread:

3 Eggs

2 cups white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chopped almonds

2 cups grated zucchini

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans well. Again, here I used mini loaf pans. I got the 4 pampered chef pans and then another 2 foil pans for 6 total of this recipe; which was awesome because we enjoyed eating the first one while still warm!!
2. Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and soda.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs until lemon colored; beat in sugar and oil. Stir in vanilla, zucchini, and cooled chocolate. Mix dry ingredients into zucchini mixture. Stir in the chopped almonds and added chocolate chips if you want them. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 15 to 20 minutes, then flip onto racks to finish cooling. 

 Another great recipe I will definitely look forward to using again!