Sassy Priscilla

What's for Breakfast? Best Baked Oatmeal Recipe.

Sorry about the picture - we couldn't wait to dig in. I barely tweaked this most delicious recipe from Southern Living. It is really, really good.

I halved the recipe which made me play around with some of the ingredients amounts. I also added vanilla.

Enjoy!

Delicious Baked Oatmeal
adapted from Southern Living (thanks Donnajean!)

Ingredients
1 - 2 cups frozen blueberries
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 egg, 1 egg white, beaten
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tablespoon Penzeys Ground Cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup plus 2 T milk
1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons Penzeys Double-Strength vanilla

Directions

1. Toss blueberries in 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, and spread evenly on bottom of a lightly greased 8 x 8 inch baking dish.
2. Combine oats, next 9 ingredients, and remaining 1 Tbsp. lemon juice in a large bowl, stirring until well blended. Pour oat mixture evenly over blueberries. I like to mix the wet ingredients and add to the dry ingredients.
3. Bake, covered, at 350° for 30 minutes; uncover and bake 20 more minutes or until golden brown and set.

Homemade Honey Graham Crackers

For the last several months, I have found ways to eliminate partially hydrogenated oils and corn syrup from our home diets. 

I've also worked to find ways to eliminate BPA products that our food is stored in. It is difficult with the canned goods - especially tomato products. I make all our own pizza and pasta sauces and use tomato puree. Though we had a wonderful garden of tomatoes, I neglected to freeze any because we ate them all! My local grocer was able to order some jarred, organic, strained tomatoes and though they are expensive, they work perfect!

One of the things I was surprised at finding partially hydrogenated oils in was graham crackers. Yes, I can buy the mealy Bunny Grahams but Aidan doesn't really eat them. So I turned to AllRecipes for a recipe. I found a nice one that is the perfect consistency and rolls out nicely. However, the taste - just ok. We found that letting them sit for a day improved the flavor but there is that overall wheat/dirt aftertaste. We found that they were a bit addicting, though. I think if I can boost the flavor, we'll have a real hit.

My plan is to make these again and either use less wheat flour or a white wheat flour to see if that improves the flavor. I may add a bit of cinnamon to the dough, too. Sprinkling the tops with cinnamon/sugar before baking is a must.

Aren't the shapes cute? They are from Williams Sonoma. I think they are just called Circus Animals. I don't believe they are carried by Williams Sonoma anymore.

Changes that I made to the recipe include substituting butter for the margarine and sprinkling the tops with cinnamon and sugar. I rolled the dough to about 1/4" and used LOTS of flour when rolling and cutting the cookies out. Future changes I'm mulling are using 2 cups white flour with 1 cup whole wheat our trying a white wheat flour. I may add cinnamon to the dough or a little more vanilla and honey.

I Heart Coffee Cake : Quick Cinnamon Coffee Cake Recipe

I am always on the search for a new coffee cake recipe as Jeff and Aidan love coffee cake. But I always return to this same, easy, delicious recipe. Jeff is pretty picky about what he wants in certain foods and basically, coffee cake must just be a mass of cinnamon. This has a basic light, fluffy cake with a mass of cinnamon streusel on top.

As usual, I turned to my favorite food recipe supplier - Southern Living. This one was from their December 2008 issue. I've tweaked it just a tiny bit. I doubled the streusel topping and added a tablespoon extra butter (Sassypriscilla, why can't you lose weight?) and eliminated the vanilla glaze. You can view the original recipe here. My recipe is below.

Here's a baking tip. Are you in a hurry to bake and have forgotten to take your butter out to get to room temperature? I do this all the time. Not a problem. No, no, no - stay away from the microwave. Just put your rock hard butter into your mixer and beat the heck out of it for a couple minutes. Now, without further ado (after the jump).

Butter Icing for Sugar Cookies Recipe

Aidan and I finally did something fun today! I knew he was feeling better because he did something besides sit on the couch or be a touch crazy. 

Last night we made cookie cutouts and today we iced them. Too many witches hats and not enough pumpkin faces. I wasn't nuts about the cookie recipe I used but I was too lazy to look in my recipe bin (yes, sadly I have a bin) to look up a tried and true one. However, I did like the icing recipe so I thought I would share.

Look who same to help eat the cookies. Why its Mucha!

White and Chocolate Icing for Sugar Cookies

Tips

This icing gives a nice glossy sheen when dry, sort of like a royal icing without the fuss or salmonella.

The recipe called for a tablespoon of vanilla. Hey, if you want brown icing, that will be just fine. I halved the vanilla and still had brown icing. If you want white icing, either don't use any extract or use a little almond or lemon.

Also, I have a little tip for using butter. If you forget to soften your butter as I often do, just beat the heck out of it in the mixer while its on its own. Then add your sugar to cream it. Do not use the microwave to soften it.

Want to color your icing black? Use chocolate icing and then add your black coloring.

I enjoy gel coloring.

White Butter Icing for Sugar Cookies
modified from All Recipes

3 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 tablespoon lemon or almond extract (optional)
1 tablespoon milk

Cream butter in your mixer. Add extract (optional). Alternately add confectioner's sugar and milk. Add more milk if you want a little thinner icing. Divide into smaller containers and add coloring. Mix with a spoon.

Chocolate Butter Icing for Sugar Cookies
modified from All Recipes

3 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract (optional)
1-2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 tablespoon milk

Cream butter in your mixer. Add extract (optional). Add baking cocoa to confectioner's sugar. Alternately add confectioner's sugar and milk. Add more milk if you want a little thinner icing. Divide into smaller containers and add coloring. Mix with a spoon.

Rainy Day Muffins

Sorry about the lousy picture. It really is a rainy day so that accounts for the lousiness of it. However, I am not unhappy to have a rainy day. It isn't a snowy, thank goodness, and I can't help but love that it is washing away residual snow, salt, and grime and maybe Spring really is coming. Spring is my very favorite time of year! So much hope, such vivid colors, fresh smells, tulips, daffodils, robins...

So on a rainy, cold Wisconsin day, what could be better than a warm breakfast? With a little help from Midwest Living's Mix and Match Muffin recipe, I came up with this concoction. If you don't have whole wheat flour, don't sweat it. Just use 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour. Don't want oatmeal? Just use 2 cups all purpose flour. Buttermilk not in your kitchen? Just substitute an equal amount of milk. Have fun making muffins to suit your taste!

The recipe is how I made it but In brackets, I have put possible substitutions.

Valentine's Day Cookies : Lovin' Colored Playdough Cookies Recipe

The last two days we've had "cold days" (think snow day except replace "snow" with "-12F with -40F wind chill"). So Aidan I decided to warm up the oven and make a twist on our playdough cookies by making them in Valentine colors.

Instead of the red, blue and yellow colors, I used food coloring gel in the colors of pink, hot pink, and red. We couldn't tell much difference between the pink and hot pink so I'm thinking a third contrasting color would have worked better. However, dipped in red sanding sugar, these cookies were a fun treat!

Playdough Cookies
Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
assorted colors of gel food coloring
white sanding sugar

Directions

1. In a bowl cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms.
3. Divide dough into thirds. Tint each with a different food color. Working with each color, shape dough into 3/4 inch balls and place on separate plates for each color. Wrap each plate in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. For each cookie place a red, blue and yellow ball together to make one large ball. Shape into a 12 inch long roll (like a snake). I find that the best way to do this is to roll from the middle out to the ends.
5. Starting at one end, coil roll to make a 2 3/4 inch round cookie.
6. Put sanding sugar on a small plate. Dip top of cookies in sanding sugar.
7. Place cookies 3 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheet.
8. Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Recipe : Spiced Ginger Cookies : YUM

I saw these on someone else's blog this morning. I'm sorry, I don't remember who and can't find it in my history. Anyway, the blogger made ginger cookies using a recipe from Martha Stewart.

I dug in and didn't realize I was low on AP flour. I used bread flour which I think might make for a chewier cookie. Having never made these before, I don't know. I also didn't have allspice so I substituted Penzey's Cake Spice for the 1/2 tsp allspice and 1/2 tsp ground white pepper. I also cut down on the unsulfured molasses, having a bad molasses experience in the past (hint: don't lick the molasses spoon). Other minor changes included sifting the dry ingredients and making the cookies smaller. This made for a slightly chewy, ginger-y, tasty cookie. Can't wait to try it again using the called-for ingredients!

Aidan loved them.

Recipe after the jump.

Apple Crisp Recipe

Oops. I forgot about this apple crisp recipe. Oh well, here is another for my collection. Yes, I did take this picture while it was still baking. I modified this from my favorite Southern Living cookbook. It can be used with fresh apples, pears or peaches or with a 21 ounce fruit pie filling (reduce brown sugar 1/4 cup). My Aunt Sue got me this cookbook a long time ago and every recipe turns out great. It is a staple in my kitchen and the first cookbook (and many times the last) that I turn to.

Tonight we are enjoying the beautiful weather by grilling out with Betsy. I have boiled the brats in beer and she will grill them. She's making a salad and providing buns. I'm bringing the dessert. I made this crisp last night and it was so good I'm making it again. I've changed it to make more crisp. My changes are in [brackets].

Quick Fruit Crisp
modified from Southern Living

4 to 5 cups sliced fresh apples, peaches or pears [6-8 large fresh Cortland apples]
1 T lemon juice
2/3 cup packed brown sugar [1 cup]
2 T all-purpose flour [3 T]
1/2 c regular oats, uncooked [3/4 old-fashioned oats]
1/2 t ground cinnamon [1/2 heaping t ground cinnamon, 1/2 t Penzey's Cake Spice]
Dash of salt [1/4 t salt]
1/3 c butter or margarine [1 stick butter]

Place fruit in a lightly greased 8-inch square baking dish; sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, and salt; cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle crumb mixture over fruit. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until fruit is tender and topping is browned. Serve with ice cream, if desired. Yield 6 servings.

Raspberry Cobbler Recipe Made in Cast Iron Skillet; How to Season Your Cast Iron Skillet

Here's a great recipe that can be made year round as it uses frozen berries. I made this for Jeff's morning breakfast for his birthday weekend. Tonight we'll be celebrating with family eating pizza and Millionaire's Shortbread.

The recipe calls for raspberries but Jeff misread my list that requested 2 bags frozen raspberries or mixed berries and brought one of each. It tasted great though I think raspberries only would be best. Or blackberries. Mmmm.

I had to season my cast-iron skillet before making this. I inherited it from my mom's best friend's mom. I don't use it often but really should - it was super easy and the perfect baking pan for this dish.

How to Season Your Dusty Cast Iron Skillet
as learned from Martha Stewart

1. Use a dry, clean paper towel or cloth and wipe dust out of pan.
2. Pour a little salt in the pan and wipe inside completely with a dry paper towel or cloth.
3. Pour a bit of vegetable oil in pan and wipe inside and outside completely with oil.
4. Put pan in preheated 300 degree oven for one hour. I place a large sheet pan underneath to catch any possible oil drippings.
5. Let pan cool and wipe off any excess oil.

As usual, I relied on my trusty Southern Living recipe stash to make this delicious cobbler. My changes are in [brackets].

Berry Cobbler
from March 2007 issue of Southern Living

Ingredients

• 4  tablespoons  unsalted butter
• 2  (12-oz.) packages frozen raspberries* [let thaw overnight in fridge, do not drain]
• 1  cup  sugar, divided
• 1 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 2  teaspoons  baking powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1  cup  milk
• 1 1/2  teaspoons vanilla extract [2 teaspoons]
• Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preparation

1. Place 4 Tbsp. butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, and put skillet in a 350° oven 10 minutes or until butter is melted. [put skillet with butter in oven while preheating]
2. Meanwhile, toss raspberries with 3/4 cup sugar in a large bowl.
3. Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in milk, vanilla, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar.
4. Add hot melted butter to flour mixture, and stir until blended. Pour batter evenly into skillet. Pour berry mixture into center of batter.
5. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until top is golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in crust comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream, if desired. Garnish, if desired.

*2 (12-oz.) packages frozen mixed berries may be substituted for frozen raspberries.

Cookie Recipe : Playdough Cookies

Isn't this beautiful? I made these for Aidan's nursery school birthday treat. They were super popular with the kids. Wouldn't these be great with only red and blue for the 4th of July?

The cookie has a mild taste - more like a spritz cookie than a sugar cookie. I wouldn't mind testing these with a sugar cookie recipe.  I tweaked a couple things with this recipe, including making the color balls first and then refrigerating, adding the sanding sugar on top and giving a little snake rolling explanation.

More pictures at the end of the recipe to show the process.

Playdough Cookies
Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
assorted colors of gel food coloring
white sanding sugar

Directions

1. In a bowl cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms.
3. Divide dough into thirds. Tint each with a different food color. Working with each color, shape dough into 3/4 inch balls and place on separate plates for each color. Wrap each plate in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. For each cookie place a red, blue and yellow ball together to make one large ball. Shape into a 12 inch long roll (like a snake). I find that the best way to do this is to roll from the middle out to the ends.
5. Starting at one end, coil roll to make a 2 3/4 inch round cookie.
6. Put sanding sugar on a small plate. Dip top of cookies in sanding sugar.
7. Place cookies 3 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheet.
8. Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and store in an airtight container.

What's for Treats? Copycat Auntie Anne's Pretzels

Some evening I was surfing the web for I don't know what and came across a recipe for Auntie Anne's Pretzels. The people who cloned this recipe analyzed the ingredients in Auntie Anne's Pretzel Kit. I made this yesterday and they were so awesome (and tasted exactly like the original) that I am making them again now as I write.

Do you think that I am some type of genius that can make dough and type? So close but no cigar. No, I am going to present you with a Bread Machine recipe for Auntie Anne's Pretzels. So easy. So little work. I can take no credit for this recipe, though. The work was done by the people at Dining in Thailand. I'm not sure what their connection is with Auntie Anne's. I think Anne is originally from Pennsylvania.

I was wary of doing the pretzel twist and ended up making pretzel sticks. Then I tried to be brave and try the twist. Let me say that the twist was easy but rolling out the dough skinny enough was tough. It could have been because of the bread machine method or where I was trying to roll the dough. That is why you see those scary twists in the night time photo. Who cares? They tasted awesome!

Auntie Anne's Pretzels
from Dining in Thailand
adapted for bread machine by Sassy Priscilla

Dough:

1 1/4 cup warm water
1 TB plus 1/4 teaspoon yeast
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 2TB powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Bath:

2 cups water
3/4 cup baking soda

Toppings:

1/4 cup butter, melted

Salted: Kosher or pretzel salt
Cinnamon Topping: 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in bread machine loaf pan. Let sit for a few
minutes.
2. Combine flour, powdered sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add to water with yeast. Add vegetable oil. Set bread machine to dough setting and do something else.
3. 20 minutes before dough cycle is complete, preheat oven to 425 degrees.
4. Make a bath for the pretzels by combining the baking soda with the warm water and stir until baking soda is mostly dissolved.
5. Remove the dough from bread pan and let set 15 minutes. Divide it into 8 even portions. Roll each portion on a flat  non-floured surface until it is about 3 ft long. Pick up both ends of the dough and give it a little spin so the  middle of the dough spins around once. Lay the dough down with the loop nearest to you. Fold the ends down toward you and pinch to attach them to the bottom of the loop. The twist should be in the middle.
6. Holding the pinched ends, dip each pretzel into the bath solution. Put each pretzel on a paper towel for a moment to blot the excess liquid. Arrange the pretzels on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. If you want salt, sprinkle pretzels with kosher salt or pretzel salt. DON'T salt any pretzels you plan to coat with cinnamon sugar. You will likely have to use two baking sheets and bake them separately. Bake the pretzels for 3 minutes and then spin the pan around and bake for another 3-4 minutes or until the pretzels are golden brown.
7. Remove the pretzels from the oven and let them cool for a couple of minutes. If you want to eat some now, brush them with melted butter first before serving.
7a. If you want the cinnamon sugar coating, make it by combining the 1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl. Brush the unsalted pretzels with melted butter. Sprinkle a heavy coating of the cinnamon sugar on the pretzels over a large plate.

Makes 8 pretzels.

For St. Patrick's Day - Irish Soda Bread - Reprise

First blogged about here.

Doesn't this look fabulous? It was! Very dense and moist with a great crust. This recipe is from A Little Irish Cookbook from Appletree Press.  This recipe is a keeper! I've added my comments with brackets.

Soda Bread

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar (optional) [not optional]
2 cups buttermilk or sour milk [buttermilk]

Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough [I used about 1 3/4 cups]. Now work quickly as the buttermilk and soda are already reacting. Knead the dough lightly - too much handling will toughen it, while too little means it won't rise properly.

Form a round loaf about as thick as your fist [if your fist is as big as the jolly green giants--this was about the size of 4 of my fists]. Place it on a lightly-floured baking sheet and cut a cross in the top with a floured knife. Put at once to bake near the top of a pre-heated oven, 450°F, for 30-45 minutes [30 minutes]. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Wrap immediately in a clean tea-towel to stop the crust hardening too much.

Prince Cupcake - A Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes Delight

Remember King Cupcake? Here's his little brother, Prince Cupcake.

This little beauty if a chocolate devil's food cupcake filled with a whipped cream filling and topped with chocolate ganache.  These cupcakes will not fail you.  They entice you. Can you believe I haven't had one yet?

The recipe for those of you late to the party is after the jump.

Happy Birthday to my big sister, Heather. These cupcakes were for her and hit the spot, I think.

No Knead Bread Winter 2007

You know winter's here when Megan's blogging about No Knead Bread. Sounds like Cook's Illustrated fooled around with it and found that adding beer and vinegar improved its flavor. I kind of like its flavor as is but am curious.  See my experiences with No Knead Bread here.

I'm also curious about making two smaller loaves out of the big loaf as I have a new Le Creuset casserole that I got off Craig's List for a steal from a guy closing his cooking store.  Could I divide it right before baking and then immediately bake a second loaf (after the first is finished)?

Cowgirl Cookies

Did I mention that those cookies were good?  I adapted the recipe slightly so it wasn't too unmanageable and fooled around with the salt and cinnamon.  There are no nuts (hence cowgirl cookies...).  Go ahead and add 1 1/3 cups chopped pecans if you like your cookies with a little hair on their chest.  Small chocolate chips would work well but I couldn't find any not made by Nestle. I don't like their chocolate (OK - almost any non-waxy chocolate will do for me in a pinch).  I'll snag a picture this afternoon. I've added a picture of Aidan's afternoon snack. Mine was a tiny bag of almonds. :-(

Miss Sassy's Cowgirl Cookies (a sassy version of sassy Mrs. Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies)

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/3 cups sweetened flake coconut

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl.

In 8-quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed till smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in sugars and continue beating to combine, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each.

Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans.

For each cookie, use a medium ice cream scoop to drop approximately 1/4 cup of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake 17 to 20 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Remove to rack to cool.

Makes 2 dozen large cookies.

Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf - YUM

Sorry for the bad photo. My pictures haven't turned out great of late.  At right is one of my helpers, Toulouse.

Not all of Wednesday's baking went wrong. Aidan and I made this wonderful Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf.  The recipe can be found here. I used Ghirardelli Semi Sweet Chocolate and melted it in the microwave. I also used Pumpkin Pie Spice from Penzey's.

have never tried Pumpkin Bread due to my dislike for pumpkin pie and the smell of carved pumpkins. However, this was really delicious. It was an easy recipe and a keeper.

Pumpkin chocolate loaf

Butter and flour for pan
13/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
11/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch nonstick loaf pan.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a mixing bowl and stir together.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until softened. Add the sugar and continue beating. Add the eggs and beat until well-blended. Add the pumpkin, vanilla and finally the flour mixture, beating just until well-blended.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler on medium-high heat until totally melted, about 5 minutes. Or melt in a glass bowl in the microwave for about 1½ to 2 minutes, or until completely melted and smooth.

Spoon half the batter into the loaf pan. Drop spoonfuls of half of the chocolate mixture on top of the batter and then swirl the chocolate into the batter with a wooden skewer. Repeat with the remaining batter and chocolate, making sure to swirl the chocolate into the pumpkin well.

Bake the loaf for about 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean in the center. Let the loaf cool at least 15 minutes and then invert onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature in slices. Makes 12 servings.

Here's What Happens When You Don't Use Pie Weights

Umm - it was soooo pretty before I baked it.  I used Martha Stewart's Pate Brisee recipe and Williams Sonoma pie dough cutters to make a good pumpkin pie with my mini crust.  I made another lovely shrunken Pecan Pie that looked great but tasted awful.  I made a Chess Pie, too.  I didn't eat any of them. I was too tired to make my favorite, Coconut Cream.

I'm never baking pie again. I really had problems with the crust.  I followed the directions to a T but couldn't get the dough rolled out unless I let it sit for 15 minutes or so.  Even then, I had problems. When it finally worked, I screwed it up by forgetting pie weights.

I'm disappointed with the Martha Stewart pie recipe (though I am sure it was my fault somehow). However, I will take no credit for the lousy Pecan Pie recipe.  I don't know why I switched from the one I usually make from Southern Living.

Anyway, holiday baking really ruined some of Thanksgiving meal fun. I spent all of Wednesday making pies that I don't even like.  A whole day! I didn't even make bread or the turkey.  Some of it was poor planning. Some of it was difficult recipes and some of it was a 4-year-old "helper."  I really hope to take December off from baking.  I don't need the extra calories and want to focus on sewing.

Back to Thanksgiving - it was a nice holiday spent with my family. My mom made a nice meal (along with my sisters).  The Packers WON again!! We played my sister's Wii, which was a blast.  I have much to be thankful for this year - being alive, for starters...

Halloween Cookies

Aidan's friend, Antonio, came over to decorate cookies. We had bat, pumpkin, witches hat, squirrel, apple, moon, spider, and spider web cookie cutters.

I used Martha Stewart's Signature Sugar Cookie recipe which is very easy and dependable. I added a little lemon extract to it.

For frosting, I made a recipe from the AllRecipes archive. It would be fun to ice them sometime but not so fun for kids.  I colored using gel coloring.  For black, I added the black coloring to store bought chocolate frosting.  I learned that tip at a Williams Sonoma cookie/cupcake decorating seminar.

I gave the boys little nut cups with sprinkles, jimmies and sanding sugar to decorate.  Both boys did the same thing. They put all their sprinkles on one big cookie!!  The picture above is Aidan's spider web.  More cookies after the jump including Aidan's eye hat and a spider he decorated completely with an icing gel pen.

Banana Dream Bundt Cake Recipe

Many apologies for forgetting to include a key ingredient (applesauce - DUH!) in my Apple Spice Bundt Cake recipe. I have now updated that recipe along with a picture.

To make up for it, I am including the best recipe for cake ever! Sorry for not being more modest - I made this up and I can't believe how good it is.  It is moist and fluffy.  There isn't any oil in it but the 3 bananas more than make up for it. Jeff thinks I should enter it in a contest.

One note - I used Dole Pineapple Orange Banana Juice only because I was too cheap to buy just banana nectar or juice.  I think that would work swell in this recipe, too.  Enough bragging and onto the recipe.

Banana Dream Bundt Cake
recipe by sassypriscilla

Ingredients
1 Box Yellow Cake Mix (I used Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Classic Yellow)
3 Eggs
3 Overripe Bananas, Mashed
3/4 Cup Dole Pineapple Orange Banana Juice
2 3.4 oz packages of Instant Banana Cream Pudding

Glaze
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
2 T Pineapple Orange Banana Juice

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients together (I start with eggs and add ingredients one at a time).  Spray your Bundt pan with a non-stick cooking spray. Add cake batter and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.  Start checking the cake after 30 minutes.  Do not over bake.

Cool cake in pan for 1 hour. Make glaze by whisking powdered sugar and juice together. Optionally, you could substitute 1 tablespoon of the juice with milk.  Turn cake onto plate and drizzle glaze over the top.

Eat it all with a side of milk.

Apple Spice Bundt Cake Recipe

Hey - I actually made up my own recipe for a cake. I have never done that!  This cake is inspired by my apple love of late but I didn't add any apples to it. Go figure. Jeff loved the cake and so did Aidan. In fact, Aidan ate it for breakfast 2 days in a row (bad mommy...).  The cake is very moist with a nice apple spice flavor.

Try it out and let me know how it is! I will update the post with some pictures on Thursday.

Apple Spice Bundt Cake
recipe by sassypriscilla

Ingredients
1 Box Spice Cake Mix (I used Better Crocker Super Moist Spice)
3-4 Eggs (I may try 3 eggs next time)
1 cup Reduced Fat Sour Cream
1 cup Applesauce
1/2 cup Apple Cider
2 3.4 oz packages of Instant Vanilla Pudding

Optional
Butter
1/3 c Cinnamon/Sugar mixture

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients together (I start with eggs and add ingredients one at a time).  Butter your Bundt pan thoroughly.  Coat buttered pan with cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Add cake mix and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.  Do not over bake.

Options: Spray cake pan with Pam instead of making the cinnamon/sugar coating; Add diced apple pieces to the cake batter; after baking, cool, pour apple pie filling over the top

A Nice Apple Crisp Recipe

It's that time of year - I'm obsessed with apples. The honeycrisps are at the store (and ready for picking in Wisconsin), we went apple picking, I patched an apple on Aidan's first day of school shirt, and I've made two apple themed desserts lately.

The first of the recipes was a delicious apple crisp based on a recipe on allrecipes.com. 

Below is the recipe. I basically doubled the crisp portion and used a smaller pan.  I can't say I used 4 cups of apples - I just used what was on hand and looked good.  It was delicious!

Awesome Autumn Apple Crisp
adapted form AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

    * 2 cups all-purpose flour
    * 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
    * 2 cups brown sugar
    * 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    * 1 cup butter, melted
    * 4 cups peeled, cored and sliced apples
    * 1/2 cup white sugar
    * 1 tablespoon cornstarch
    * 1/2 cup water
    * 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter. Stir until crumbly. Press half the oat mixture into an 8x8 inch baking dish. Cover with sliced apples.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine white sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla. Cook, stirring, until thick and clear, 10 minutes. Pour over apples. Cover apples with remaining crumble mixture.
4. Bake in preheated oven 45 minutes, until bubbly and golden.
5. Eat.

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Is there such thing as Too Much Chocolate Cake?

Isn't this the sweetest little cake ever?  I've already blogged about this great recipe but it is so good, it deserves another entry since I made it again in my new Nordic Ware mini-sunflower bake pan.

This cake is so rich and so moist and absolutely loaded with thigh-loving calories.  It needs no frosting or icing, just a huge cup of milk.

I had leftover batter and used some mini pans that my sister Missy gave me (I think). I don't know what they are, frankly, but they worked!

Check out the photos below of the bundt pan, the batter, and the cakes.

Too Much Chocolate Cake

slightly adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 (18.25 oz) package devil's food cake mix
2 (3. oz) packages devil’s food instant chocolate pudding mix
1 16 oz container sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Do not overbake so watch closely as your toothpick may insert into a melted chocolate chip.  If using mini-bundt cake pans, bake for 35-45 minutes.
4. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.
5. Eat like crazy.

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Finally! S'mores Cupcakes

Hello little cupcake. You were delicious!

After my failed attempt to make Sew Darn Cute's Smores Cupcakes, I failed again. I accidentally used salted butter. Salted Butter - how did you even get in the house?

But I was determined to make these darn cupcakes and they turned out super good.

I think next time I may dip these in Ganache and just fill them with the Marshmallow Cream frosting.

Recipe after the jump.

S'more Cupcakes, Please

Aidan's birthday party was on Sunday (more about that later).  So that means I made some cupcakes. I used Lightning McQueen cupcake liners (not pictured), some Wilton Jumbo Sprinkles, and Lightning McQueen and Towmater candy toppers.

Being short on time (more about that later), I used a box mix for the cupcakes.  I made frosting following Sew Darn Cute's Smore's Cupcakes recipe.  I've been pining for these for a while!

First the good news - these cupcakes were awesome!  The bad news is that I didn't add enough Marshmallow Cream and the frosting did not taste like marshmallows. I was so bummed - I didn't even figure out what I did wrong until today.  I used 6 oz and the recipe called for 16 oz.  However, this proves what a great frosting recipe it is - as it tasted just great and its consistency was just fine.  Super easy, too!

I did the trick of poking in my bag tip into the cupcake and then filling the outside. Always a nice treat - kind of like a Ho Ho!

Since these did not turn out as planned, I didn't make the S'more Cupcakes (by dusting on the graham crackers and sticking in a Hershey Bar) but they were cute and tasty anyway!

Millionaire's Shortbread? More Like Billionaire's...

Here is a great recipe I've been waiting to make from my favorite sassy baking blog, Bake and Shake. This is for Millionaire's Shortbread. They are so rich that I will call them Billionaire's Shortbread.

Bake and Shake's look much prettier than mine, but these were pretty awesome tasting!

I had two problems - my caramel never seemed to thicken as I thought it should. After over 1/2 an hour, I gave up. I really don't know what to do to fix it.

I also must not have melted the chocolate enough before deciding to spread. It was very thick and didn't set real nice on top. It is possible that it was because I used Chocolate Chips.

I sprinkled Fleur-de-Sel salt on top.  When I make again, I might consider pouring on a Ganache topping.

My husband thought these were the best treats ever. Recipe after the jump.

Introducing King Cupcake

Yay! I love the Wilton King-Size muffin pan! I first heard of it on Not Martha. The first thing I made were personal Angel Food cakes that were easy and scrumptious but maybe not so pretty.

I've been wanting to try my tricky cupcakes ever since Easter and this batch turned out great!  These are super-rich Devil's Food Cupcakes filled with Whipped Icing and topped with Chocolate Ganache, Whipped Icing, and Jimmies.

Things I did different - I used whole milk in the icing and I filled the cupcakes first just to the top and then dipped in the Ganache.

More pictures and the recipes after the jump...

 

 

No Knead Bread & Olive Oil

Another loaf of No Knead Bread...

I saw a comment on Not Martha's blog about having the dough rise in a bowl coated in olive oil rather than flouring the heck out of a towel so I tried it. 

I've made the bread 3 times this way and I think it works just great. I kind of like the flour method better but I couldn't tell you why. The outside is just as crusty and the inside just as moist with either method.

So if you are feeling a little lazy or want to try something new, just coat a large bowl with olive oil (wipe with a rag or paper towel to remove excess) and the cover the bowl with a towel.  Be sure to coat the bowl up to the edges so it slides easily into your pot for baking.

Little Angels

I adore Angel Food Cake. It has been my birthday cake of choice every year since I could first choose. I also love Angel Food Cake from a box mix. It tastes just fine to me and is super easy. Plus, you will not get salmonella poisoning from licking the bowl as all egg whites are of the dried form.

I also adore Not Martha's blog. I have learned about so many techniques and happenings on her site. Plus, you gotta love a blog that has a category devoted to cupcakes.  I saw the Wilton King Sized muffin pan in her cupcake envy post and had to have one. It was pretty inexpensive at Michael's ($7.99). So I decided to make individual angel food cakes. So easy!

My tools: Wilton King-Sized muffin pan, small ice-cream scoop, boxed Angel food cake mix, water.

Fill cups 2/3 full and bake at 375 for about 17 minutes.  Put pan on its side too cool. Uh oh - I put too much batter in, as photos show (sorry about the flash). It made it difficult to get the muffins out. Next time, I will fill less full and eat 1/2 the batter. Cover Angel Cakes with strawberries and eat.

Sassy Drew and the Mystery of the Weeping Cupcake - Solved

As predicted, Marsha has come to the rescue for my problem with the weeping whipped icing on my Easter cupcakes. We think it is because I used skim milk instead of whole milk. I will have to try it all again!

Marsha also says that she fills the cupcakes first and then dips into the Ganache. You should see the gorgeous cupcakes she makes. There is a reason she is called "Marsha Stewart."

Want a Little Cupcake, Cupcake?

I made cupcakes for Easter! I'm a little new to the cupcake making world but these were delicious.  I saw some gorgeous jimmies at our local grocer a few weeks ago and had to have them for Easter.  Then at Blumchen, I saw some cupcake picks.  Unfortunately, they were out of them so I scooped some up from eBay. Aren't they darling?

I found two recipes that looked good from a recent Southern Living magazine and, with a little help from All Recipes and my friend Marsha, I made some yummy cupcakes!

The first cupcakes were chocolate cupcakes that I dipped in chocolate ganache and, once cooled, piped in a whipped cream frosting.  They are kind of like Ho-Hos. I had a problem that I'm waiting to hear from Marsha on where the filling seeped a little watery fluid. They tasted great but I'd like a stiffer texture. Alternatively, I may make these and fill them just to to the top of the cupcake and then dip in the ganache.

The second batch of cupcakes were a tasty white cupcake with a white frosting that I tinted yellow because the vanilla make the frosting a little too dingy for my tastes. I added lemon extract to match the sunny color of the frosting.

I recommend both cupcake recipes. I would probably use a cream cheese frosting for the white cupcakes if doing them again.

Follow the link for the recipes.

Mmmm Biscuits

Aren't these cute? These are simple little buttermilk biscuits I made for my mom's fried chicken birthday dinner.  If you are curious about how simple and want me to post a recipe, let me know by leaving a comment (hint, hint). I got it from my favorite cookbook from Southern Living.

No Knead Bread - Another Glorious Loaf

Perhaps you are getting bored by all the No Knead Bread posts. Perhaps you are jealous and wish you could be eating this beauty tonight.  Too late!

No Knead Bread Burned My Trivet

Technically, my Le Creuset burned my trivet but I am blaming No Knead Bread. I am sad as my dad made this for me. Isn't it cool? I'm pretty sure it only took my mom and dad a week to drink the wine used for the trivet.

Scones - I don't care if they're English

I made my favorite recipes for scones for our St. Patrick's Day celebration. I don't know if scones are Irish fare but I don't care!  I got this recipe last year from the Elmwood Inn website. Everyone really enjoys them and they can be made without sugar for those who would prefer a recipe without. My notes are in brackets.

Elmwood Inn Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons unsalted cold butter
1/2 cup currants or white raisins [1 cup Hershey's Cinnamon Chips]
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tablespoon cream
1 tablespoon  [sugar pearls]

Preheat the oven to 400º F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and soda. With a pastry blender, cut in butter, mixing it until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in currants [cinnamon chips].

Whisk buttermilk and egg together, then add to flour mixture. Stir together until a soft ball of dough forms. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently, turning five or six times.

Roll out dough with a floured rolling pin to about 1/2 inch thickness. Using a heart-shaped [clover] cookie cutter, cut scones out and place on the baking sheet. Brush the tops lightly with cream and sprinkle with sugar [sugar pearls - I sometimes use cinnamon and sugar].

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown. Serve warm with lemon curd, clotted cream, or preserves. Makes one dozen scones.

Time Saving Hint: Raw scones may be frozen and then baked fresh as you need them.

[end recipe]

See my Scones photo album for more photos including who helped, who didn't and a surprise guest!

Irish Soda Bread - Where's the Pop?

Doesn't this look fabulous? It was! Very dense and moist with a great crust. This recipe is from A Little Irish Cookbook from Appletree Press.  I made it for our delayed St Patrick's Day Celebration at my Mom and Dad's house on Sunday. This recipe is a keeper! I've added my comments with brackets.

Soda Bread

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar (optional) [not optional]
2 cups buttermilk or sour milk [buttermilk]

Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough [I used about 1 3/4 cups]. Now work quickly as the buttermilk and soda are already reacting. Knead the dough lightly - too much handling will toughen it, while too little means it won't rise properly.

Form a round loaf about as thick as your fist [if your fist is as big as the jolly green giants--this was about the size of 4 of my fists]. Place it on a lightly-floured baking sheet and cut a cross in the top with a floured knife. Put at once to bake near the top of a pre-heated oven, 450°F, for 30-45 minutes [30 minutes]. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Wrap immediately in a clean tea-towel to stop the crust hardening too much.

[end recipe]
I actually put my pot in for the No Knead Bread while I was cooking this so I could pop my third load in.

No Knead Bread - Round 2

click any image to enlarge. click twice to taste. click three times and you're back in Kansas.

I made another stab at the No Knead Bread. I followed the adapted recipe posted by Megan at Not Martha. I was a little loose with my time line and the flour but it still turned out great!  You should click on the first picture here to get an idea of how it turned out - nice and crusty on the outside and moist on the inside.

I left it in its wet state (barm?) for over 18 hours as I was busy shopping today.

I put too much flour on the dough but I still think it turned out great. I haven't tried it the second day so I look forward to seeing how it is toasted tomorrow.

What's for Dinner?

So I thought I would try my hand at the No Knead Bread again today. Aidan was "helping" me. He got so excited to eat bread (and the No Knead Bread won't be ready for another decade) that I decided to make my famous Beer Batter Bread.  Well, it isn't so famous outside of my immediate family (that being me, Jeff, and Aidan--the cats haven't even tried it).  It is quick, easy, and tasty!

Beer Batter Bread

3 cups self-rising flour*
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1 can room temperature beer (12 oz)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour and sugar.  Add entire can of beer and stir until just mixed. Pour into greased bread pan.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top starts to turn golden brown.  Pop out of bread pan and brush with melted butter.  Let cool a little before slicing and serving with dinner.** Eat it all.

*If you don't have self-rising flour, you can make it using All purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.  For every cup of baking powder used, add 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

**To the right is dinner. It is a little goulash consisting of mini penne noodles, tomato puree, ground turkey breast, Penzey's Pizza Seasoning and some Mozzarella cheese. YUM!

Another Take on the No Knead Bread

One of the funnier blogs I've read is Bake and Shake thanks to Megan at Not Martha.  The instructions for the No Knead Bread tickled me plus they are easy to follow. Bake and Shaker uses more yeast than I did so now I'm worried how my second loaf, which I started last night, will turn out. Plus, I just realized I won't be home in time (after the 18 million hours you must wait) to start baking it up. Anyone know if that is a problem?

Best Chocolate Cake - Ever

I got a new bundt pan for Christmas. It has little violets on it - so sweet. You can't see much in this picture as 1/2 the cake was devoured immediately as soon as it was cool enough to eat. Not all by me. Jeff, Aidan, and Kaelin helped.

I got this recipe from All Recipes - one of the best recipe sites I have found on the net. It is a highly rated recipe for Too Much Chocolate Cake which won the recipe author first prize in her county fair.  It rates 5 stars by over 160 reviewers. I give it 5 stars, too - it is so moist and delicious. Very sinful.

No Knead Bread

Here is my No Knead Bread loaf in my $16.50 Used Le Creuset pot found on eBay. This recipe appeared in a New York Times article last fall. I first heard about it on Not Martha. It spread like wildfire on the Internet, was featured on the Martha Show, and I finally got around to making it in February. I haven't made it since.

The pot worked just fine and the bread was awesome! Crusty on the outside and moist and soft on the inside. It was easy to do: not as messy as it appeared it might be, but you have to be real organized to let the thing sit for 18 hours, then let rise, then let rise again, then bake... I can't remember when to start making it so I can have a nice loaf for dinner the next day.