Scones, Scones and More Scones.

Sunday I woke up with the overwhelming urge to make scones, so I did. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I made three different kinds using Of Dreams and Sweets recipe. I used the basic recipe and modified it to fit what I had on hand. I also made vanilla scones (a lot like the tasty little ones from starbucks!) using a recipe I saw on Five Forks. They all turned out fantastic. I brought them into the office for the guys to eat this morning and they all really liked them.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip

Black Berry Lemon

Cranberry Orange

Vanilla

Halloween Cupcakes

I've baked cupcakes once again. This time for the office halloween party. It's nothing special, just the usual vanilla and chocolate combination with vanilla butter cream frosting. All from scratch of course. I topped some of them with sprinkles and candy corn and used white and orange coloring for the frosting. You know, the usually halloween type things. I also used these really nifty spider-web cupcake liners but I ran out so I only used them on the first batch of vanilla ones. The rest were lame and just had white ones. phhss.

falling behind

I've been neglecting the blog once again. I seem to do that a lot. I guess when I started this at the beginning of summer I had no idea how much work it was going to take. It's not that its even all that hard, I think I'm just being extremely lazy. Its not hard for me to bake things. Its not hard for me to take pictures of things. Its not hard for me to write about things. Yet, when its all put together it seems to be really difficult for me to do. I usually get up to the writing part and then stop. So now I've got loads of pictures of food sitting around on my computer and here they are. If anyone wants a recipe, just let me know. I don't remember where they all are off of from the top of my head but if you're interested I'll look.

I'm not usually a fan of plain blueberries but these were most delicious blueberries I have ever had.

Half whole wheat half regular flour muffins with streusel topping from a very old betty crocker cookbook. The dogs sadly ended up eating most of these....

Cupcakes and cupcake cake that I made for my grandmothers birthday in august. All of the circles were handmade out of fondant. Sorry for the bad picture, my dad took it.

More of the cupcakes.

Mini orange blueberry muffins.

Amazing blondies.

Vegan chocolate peanut butter cookies for my mom's friend Dee.

Even though these were vegan, they were really really good.

Yummy chocolate chip cookies.

A rustic peach tart with vanilla ice cream.

The peaches were amazing with the crust.

I hope that from now on I just get over myself and post more.

Cinnamon Rolls

I didn't think to take pictures till the last one was finished...next time!

This past Tuesday I made cinnamon rolls from scratch for my mom's birthday. I made them in the morning and then brought them over to my parents office so they guys could have them when they were still warm. They loved them! The recipe was very easy and this was my first time baking something that needed yeast. I didn't use my bread machine for this because I honestly don't know how to work the thing and it just repetitively beeps at me when I turn it on. It turned out fine doing it by hand. I used the recipe from Life. Unconditionally. and will be making them again very soon!!!

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

I made these last night for dinner with my grandparents. They loved them! I got the recipe off of Salt and Chocolate's blog and they are amazing. I don't think I will ever try another chocolate cup cake recipe again, they were that good. They are dense and moist and have a very chocolatey flavor that works great with the carmel frosting. I threw a couple chocolate chips into the batter and on top for decoration, which worked nicely.




Chocolate Cupcakes
3 cups of AP Flour
2/3 cup of cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of cold water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of canola oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350.Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl whisk together the water, oil, vanilla extract, and vinegar. In a large bowl add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and 1/2 of the wet and mix to combine. Then add 1/2 of the remaining dry ingredients and the rest of the wet, stir to combine. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix for 2 to 3 minutes until combined. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full and bake for 17-20 minutes or until the tops of the cakes are set. (mine took about 30 -35 minuets, but my oven has issues) Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then finish cooling on a wire rack to cool completely.

Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
12 oz of cream cheese, softened
4 oz of unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons of heavy cream (I didn't have any on hand, but it turned out fine with out it)
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1/3 of a cup of caramel ice cream topping

Cream together the cream cheese and the butter until they are light and fluffy. Then add in the heavy cream and vanilla extract and stir to combine. Sift in the powdered sugar in 3 additions making sure to mix well after each addition. Add in the caramel sauce. Set this aside to chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. Frost each cupcake and if desired drizzle with extra caramel sauce.

Zucchini Bread

This is my Grandma Elaine's recipe and every one in my family loves it. Sometimes when I bake things, people don't eat them all. They have one or two and then let them sit on the counter till they are stale and hard. This is the one recipe that never last more then three days in my house, even when I double the recipe it still gets eaten. The last time I made this I had them sitting on the cooling rack on our kitchen and walked upstairs to talk to my mom about something. I hear something moving in the kitchen so I go back down to see what it is. I find my dog Daisy with her front paws on the counter devouring a loaf of my bread. Even though she got in trouble, she knew it was worth it.

The half eaten loaf of bread thanks to Daisy

Zucchini Bread
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all dry ingredients together with the grated zucchini. Mix in all wet ingredients and pour into 4 small greased loaf pans or 2 large loaf pans. Bake for 45 min. for small pans and an hour and 15 min for large. Let cool on wire rack and cut into slices.

Blueberry and Raspberry Crisp

hot out of the oven!

This is the same idea as the peach crisp I posted with out pictures a few weeks ago, just I put this in individual dishes and used what I had on hand - frozen berries! This was soo good hot out of the oven with a scoop of ice cream on top of it. I really like most anything with a crisp, especially this recipe for it. I really like this recipe because its very rough and you can make it for one or a bunch of people with out much problem and its very easy to adjust to your personal tastes.



Blueberry and Raspberry Crisp
Filling:
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar

Crisp:
2/3 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup flour
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 tps cinnamon
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 tps salt
1/4 cup raw sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all filling ingredients together. Place filling in four individual oven-proof ramekins. Mix all crisp ingredients together and top the filling filled ramekins with it and bake for 25-35 minuets or until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

so tasty....

oven baked chicken

This chicken is super simple and super tasty. I only roughly crushed the crackers with my hands because I was lazy and don't have a food processor, but I'm sure it would work out just as well or better if they were crushed finer. These are definitely best served right out of the oven. I had a few leftover that I put in the refrigerator because my dad and cousin weren't home for dinner that night and they were soggy the next morning.




Oven Baked Chicken
1/2 roll ritz crackers, finely crushed
2/3 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
3 chicken breasts
salt and pepper

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees F. Whisk the egg and milk together. Mix the salt and pepper into the flour. Cut the chicken breasts into 3-4 evenly sized strips. Roll in flour and the dip into egg mixture then coat in the crushed crackers. Lay the strips of chicken a few inches apart on a lightly oiled baking sheet and place in the oven for 35-45 minuets till fully cooked and crisp.

Brownie Cookies

My new alice in wonderland plate.

These cookies are fantastic. They really do taste like a brownie on the inside. I ended up giving half of the cookies away to my grandparents and aunt(along with some of the banana cake and other yummy things I have yet to post) and freezing the other half. I eat them right out of the freezer, since I'm too lazy to defrost them. There still really really good that way. Also, excuse the not so good pictures, it was a rainy day again.





Brownie Cookies
from Cafe Johnsonia
14 Tbsp. butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1-2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whisk together:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place butter and unsweetened chocolate in a large, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for several minutes on 50% power until melted. Whisk to combine. Add the brown sugar and the cocoa powder. Whisk well until smooth. Let the mixture cool slightly. Add egg and egg yolk, whisking well again. Add the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients a little at a time and whisk well between additions. (You may need to switch to a wooden spoon towards the end. Add the chocolate chips

Use a small ice cream scoop (1 Tbsp. size) or two spoons to drop tablespoon size balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake cookies for about 8-9 minutes. (Check a little before just to make sure...) The cookies will look dry on top, but will be soft in the middle.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet and then remove to a cooling rack to let the chocolate chips set before storing.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Banana Cake

excuse the not so good pictures, it was a rainy day.

This was the best banana cake I have ever had. EVER. It was so light and soft. I was not so sure about the coffee icing but it complimented it so very well. I would have never imagined the combination to taste as good as it did. I could seriously eat this everyday and never get sick of it. I have plans to make this again and again.


Banana Cake
from Cathie Cooks Food
3 - 5 over ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

(I also added a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg)

Whip the banana's for about 5 minutes. Then add eggs and vanilla

Combine next five dry ingredients in a bowl, then add to the banana mixture.

Pour the batter in a greased and floured pan. Any size will do. This mixture will also fit nicely into 2 loaf pans.

(I dont have any load pans, so I used 6 mini bundt pans and baked then for 25-30 minuets)

Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes, and then check with a clean dry knife. If it comes out clean it's done. If not give it another 10 minutes and check again.

The lovely dripping frosting.

Icing:

I use a coffee flavoured icing for this cake. It might sound wierd, but it's really delicious.

(I didn't have any coffee already made so I just added a few instant coffee granules and it worked just fine)

1 cup of confectioners sugar
Drizzel in some coffee a little at a time and mix until you have the consistency you want, and then ice the cake!