Poppy Seed Bread

One of my favorite blogs is Our Best Bites.  It was created by two friends to share recipes with each other and their friends.  They are my kind of cooks!  A couple weeks before Christmas while browsing their site, I noticed they had a cookbook! I immediately called my mom and told her I wanted it for Christmas.  Believe it or not this was the present I was the most excited about getting.  And let me tell you it does not disappoint!  I know all the financial gurus (David Ramsey, etc.) say not to buy cookbooks.  Why would you with the internet these days?  But as a book lover, there is something about turning the pages, and seeing the recipes, that inspires me in a way that the internet simply doesn't!  I can't tell you how many recipes I want to try in this book. Finding those on the internet just wouldn't be the same.

The original recipe is Almond Poppy Seed Bread (found here) but since I don't care for almond extract, I left it out, therefore took off the Almond from the name here.  

The case:
Ingredients:
3 c. all-purpose flour
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/8 c. canola oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
2 tsp. poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. butter flavoring

GLAZE
3/4 c. white granulated sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. butter flavoring

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, sugar, and flavorings and beat for 2 minutes. Alternate adding in flour mixture and milk and then mix until just combined. Add poppyseeds and mix until just combined. Pour into prepared pans (5 mini pans or 2 regular loaf pans) and bake (35-40 minutes for mini pans, 1 hour for large pans; keep an eye on them). When done, place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pans and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack. While cooling, prepare glaze by combining all glaze ingredients. Drizzle over loaves and allow to harden.

 Okay there is one thing I left out.  I actually tried 2 recipes from Our Best Bites today.  The only thing that could possibly make this cake better, any bread for that matter, is honey butter.

The case:

Honey Butter

Ingredients:

2 sticks real butter, (close to room temp- works best when slightly chilled still.)
2/3 C honey
¾ C powdered sugar

Directions:
(If your butter is too soft, you’ll end up with a gooey mess, so I just leave it out on the counter for about 20 minutes or so before beating and it turns out nice and fluffy)
Just place it all in a bowl and beat with an electric hand-mixer for 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed.  Serve at room temp

The ruling:
I'm in love with this bread!  It would be good as a dessert or a sweet breakfast.  It would be fabulous alone, but with this butter, oh my word.  It's incredible!  It has to be the powdered sugar.... I think I'm going to go eat another piece!

Honey Bun Cake #85

I was craving something sweet, so I searched allrecipes.com until I found something with good reviews that I had all the ingredients for!

The case:

Cake Ingredients
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon


Icing Ingredients
2 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil, eggs and sour cream. Stir by hand approximately 50 strokes, or until most large lumps are gone. Pour half of the batter into an ungreased 9x13 inch glass baking dish.
3.  Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the batter in the cake pan.
4.  Spoon the other half of the batter into the cake pan, covering the brown sugar and cinnamon. Twirl the cake with a butter knife or icing knife until it looks like a honey bun (or whatever design you want to make).
5.  Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Frost cake while it is still fairly hot. Serve warm.
6.  To Make the frosting: In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.

The ruling:
Oh me, oh my!!  This is spectacular!  I just can't get enough of it.  It's sweet and savory.  It's part sweet like a cinnamon roll but the cake is also savory from the sour cream.  The middle was warm and gooey.  I added maple extract in with the vanilla.  I believe the maple added a lot more flavor.  I couldn't have had a better night- honey bun cake, a tall glass of milk, and cuddled on the couch with my husband watching The Bachlorette!

Yellow Cupcakes with Sticy Chocolate Icing #82

I recently found a list on Pioneer's Woman's website of all her recipes.  It is a wonderful little page to bookmark, if you're like me and like to visit all the time.  Overall, this recipe stood out the most to me.  I am one of the few people on Earth that just don't care for chocolate.  I know it's weird, but I do like homemade chocolate icing on white cake for some reason, and these look just about as good as it gets!  I just wish I could get my pictures to look as good as hers.... one day.

The case:
Ingredients 
FOR CUPCAKES
2 cups Cake Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
¾ teaspoons Salt
½ cups Unsalted Butter, Softened
1 cup Sugar
3 whole Eggs Room Temperature
2 teaspoons Vanilla
¾ cups (plus A Tad More) Whole Milk
_____
FOR THE ICING:
¾ cups Sweetened, Condensed Milk
6 ounces, weight Semi-sweet Chocolate
2 Tablespoons Butter

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3.  With an electric mixer, mix butter and sugar on high speed until fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl and mix for a few more seconds. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla. Mix to combine.
4.  Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk in three batches, mixing for a few seconds after each addition.
5.  Scrape sides of bowl, then mix one final time.
6.  Fill paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full with batter. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until poufy but not brown. Cool before icing.

Sticky Chocolate Icing:
1.  Mix ingredients together in a small/medium saucepan. Melt ingredients over medium low heat, stirring gently. Icing is ready when all ingredients are melted and combined.
2.  Spoon warm icing over warm cupcakes, stirring icing to smooth after every third cupcake or so. Allow iced cupcakes to sit at least ten minutes before serving.

The ruling:
Mollye really enjoyed this cupcake as you can see!  I really liked this icing, but the cake was a little heavy.  I'm not sure if this is because of my horrible baking abilities or the recipe.  The flavor is good, I just like my cake lighter and fluffier.  

Lemon Supreme Cake

This is Michael's favorite dessert I make.  If you like lemon, you'll love this!

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix

1 (3 ounce) package lemon flavored gelatin mix

1 teaspoon lemon extract

3/4 cup apricot nectar

4 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, gelatin, lemon extract, apricot nectar, eggs and oil. Mix to combine, then beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Pour batter into a 10 inch tube pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

While cake is baking, make the glaze: In a small bowl, combine lemon juice and confectioners sugar; stir until smooth. Remove cake from oven, and with cake still in pan, pour glaze over top of hot cake, tipping pan to allow excess glaze to run down sides of pan. Allow cake to cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Chocolate Sheet Cake #41

Wow I can't believe I'm in the 40s.

I just had to squeeze in one more recipe before I started dieting again tomorrow.  Even though I am trying new low-fat recipes, it isn't quite the same as finding a really great recipe that just hits the spot. I'm cooked creamy/savory comfort foods already today, so I thought I would finish with something sweet and savory.  This is another one of Pioneer Woman's recipes- I know- obsessed- I admit it!

The case:

Ingredients:
FOR THE CAKE:
2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
2 sticks Butter
1 cup Boiling Water
½ cups Buttermilk
2 whole Beaten Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla

FOR FROSTING:
½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
1-¾ stick Butter
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

1.  In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

2. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.

3. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat.

 4. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

5. In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla.

 6. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

7.  While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan.
8.  Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together.

 9.  Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

The ruling:
I was worried because this was so thin.  After my thin biscuits this morning I thought oh no, tough cake isn't going to be any good, but once again Pioneer Woman doesn't disappoint.  This is very similar to the Coca-Cola cake my aunt makes, but a lot thinner.  I'm not sure how such a thin cake can be so fluffy, but it is sooo good.  This is a lifetime recipe for me!

Sour Cream Pound Cake

This is Paula Deen's recipe. It was also featured on Oprah's favorite recipes show.

The case:
Ingredients:
* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
* 3 cups sugar
* 1 cup sour cream
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 6 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together; add sour cream. Sift flour and baking soda together. Add to creamed mixture, alternately with eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.

The ruling:
Very good. There needs to be some kind of pound cake icing. I bet this would be really good with a side of vanilla ice cream. Best part it was super easy to make. All that was messy after I was finished was the kitchen aid mixing bowl and a spatula. I appreciate the twangyness the sour cream adds!

Tres Leches (3 Milk Cake) 12/28/09

So the other night I ate dinner at Chuy's in Franklin, Tennessee. It is a chain Mexican restaurant, that I believe started in Texas. I by far had some of the best Mexican food, heck food period, of my life. My brother-in-law's gf, who is from Texas, made us try the Tres Leches, which is a milk cake. First, of all I'm not a dessert person. I would much rather eat another helping of the cheese dip and salsa than dessert, but she insisted we try this cake since we had never seen or heard of one. It was described as a moist sponge cake with milk sauce. Gross, I know. Just let me tell you when I tried my first bite my taste buds did a happy dance. With food, texture is more important to me than taste. I hate beans, not because of their taste, but the dry mushyness that happens in my mouth. Well this cake was slightly slimy, normally a texture I would gag at, but it was delicious! So anyways, now to the present. I went right home and googled 3 milk cake, since I couldn't remember how to say the Spanish words, and made it the next night. Once again the source for this recipe is allrecipes.com (LOVE that place)

The case:
# 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
# 1 teaspoon baking powder
# 1/2 cup unsalted butter
# 1 cup white sugar
# 5 eggs
# 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

# 2 cups whole milk
# 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
# 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
# 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
# 1 cup white sugar
# 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
3. Cream butter or margarine and the 1 cup sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and the 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; beat well.
4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture 2 tablespoons at a time; mix until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Pierce cake several times with a fork.
6. Combine the whole milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk together. Pour over the top of the cooled cake.
7. Whip whipping cream, the remaining 1 cup of the sugar, and the remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla together until thick. Spread over the top of cake. Be sure and keep cake refrigerated, enjoy!

The Ruling:
MY NEW FAVORITE DESSERT! This tasted just like the one at Chuy's! Oh my... it is soooo good! Who would have thought? I didn't make homemade whipped cream. It doesn't need whipped cream at all. My husband added fresh, sliced strawberries. I woke up the next morning craving this. I was worried how milk-soaked cake would be the next day. (Even though it spend the night in the fridge) It was still to die for!!