Carrot or Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot or Pumpkin Spice Cake

1/2 cup (1 stick) of Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
3 cups shredded carrot (or 1-15 ounce can of Pumpkin puree)
1/3 cup Buttermilk or yogurt
1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla extract (optional) 
3/4 cup of flour White flour
3/4 cup of Whole Wheat flour (I really love Bob's Red Mill Pastry WW flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground Cardamom
1/4 teaspoon Cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger

You could add nuts and/or raisins if that's your thing

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt the butter in the microwave. Stir in Sugar, salt, and spices. Beat in Eggs, mix in Buttermilk and Carrots. I simply add the flour on top, mixing in the baking powder and soda into the flour prior to combining with the wet ingredients beneath. Pour into a greased glass baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, 25-30 if cupcakes. Remember, spice cake is always better the next day.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/4 cup butter
8 ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Soften butter in microwave, add cream cheese. Beat till combined, add vanilla and sugar, beat till smooth.  Keep leftovers refrigerated.

Gingerbread Cut Out Cookies!

3/4 cup of Butter

1 cup of brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup of Molasses
2 Eggs
3 cups of Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon of Salt
3 teaspoons of Cinnamon
3 teaspoons of Ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons of ground Cloves

Combine ingredients.  Chill for 1-4 hours.  Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.  Preheat oven to 350.  Cut out Gingerbread and bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 8-10 minutes.  Cool on sheet for 1-2 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

They don't make the best tasting ginger cookies, but pretty good for a cut out.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting for Gingerbread Cookies or Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened to room temperature

4 cups powdered sugar

Juice and zest of 1 large Lemon

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon of salt

Cream the butter and salt, add the sugar 1 cup at a time.  After the first cup of sugar add in the lemon zest and juice, finally add in the Vanilla.

Vegan Not-A-Derby Pie

1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

2 "eggs" (2 Tablespoons Flaxseed meal, 5 T water)

1/2 cup Oil

1 cup chopped Walnuts

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons Bourbon, Optional

1 frozen pie shell (most store bought are vegan)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together all ingredients and scrape into pie shell. Bake for 55 minutes.  Let cool before slicing.  Serve with vegan vanilla ice cream.  This pie is super rich so I suggest cutting into 12 slices.

Blueberry Buckle, a.k.a Blueberry Coffee Cake

For The Cake:

6 Tablespoons of Butter
1 cup and 2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of milk or milk alternative
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
4 1/2 cups of fresh or thawed whole blueberries

For the Topping:

3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
6 Tablespoons of butter

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease a 9 x 13 (Lasagna) glass baking dish.  Melt the butter and combine with the sugar, beat in the eggs.  Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and ginger.  Gently mix in half of the flour mix, gently mix in the milk, then gently mix in the remaining flour mix.  Fold in the Blueberries.  Spread in the greased baking dish.

In a food processor pulse the topping mixture till pea sized and sprinkle evenly on top of the cake batter.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, till the top is lightly browned.

Smooth and Creamy Easy Cheesecake, No Cracks

18 Graham Cracker Squares (one sleeve), blitzed in food processor till crumbs
3 Tablespoons Butter, melted

Mix melted/softened butter and crumbs till well blended and press into the bottom of a deep dish pie plate.  Do not pre-bake!

2 8 oz. package Cream Cheese
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 cups cottage cheese
2 eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla

1.)  In a food processor, blitz cottage cheese, add sugar and vanilla and blitz again, add one package of cream cheese and blend, add the second block of cream cheese and blend till smooth scraping sides and bottom to incorporate all.  Add eggs one-at-a-time blend again scraping sides and bottom.  Pour on top of the crust.

2.)  Place in cold oven and turn on to 325 degrees.  Set timer for 50 minutes.

3.)  Turn off oven and crack the door.  Let cool to room temperature before covering and putting in the fridge.

4.)  Wait at least a day.  Try not to eat it all.  Cheesecake tastes best after 4 days.  Serves 8-12.  You could definitely halve this recipe for a small cheesecake.

For Individual Cheesecakes:  Use foil cupcake wrappers in muffin tins.  Spoon 1 Tablespoon crumb mixture into each cup and press till flat on the bottom.  Scoop 1/4 cup of cheesecake batter into each cup.  Bake at 325 for 25 minutes.  If the cupcakes form "pits" in the center I fill the center with cherry pie filling.

Easy Lemon Curd

1/2 cup of Butter
1 cup of Sugar
3 Tablespoons of Lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon of Lemon Zest
1 Egg, well beaten
1/4 cup of water

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan, over medium heat, stir constantly until bubbling.  Remove from heat and let cool before serving.

Ginger Cookies!

Original recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, mine is from 1969, page 144.  Modified below by a friend of my Grandmother's, and further modified by my Aunt, her daughter.

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), warmed
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
Large Granulated Sugar for the tops

Mix thoroughly, cover, chill for 1 hour.  Heat oven to 350, shape dough into rounded balls by the teaspoon.  Dip tops in sugar, place sugar side up on a greased baking sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes.  Makes 4 dozen.

I have often make them one pan at a time, leaving the remaining dough in the fridge for up to 4 days. That way each batch is fresh since cookies are best before they are 4 days old. My Grandmother and Aunt would freeze them as balls, ready to go.

Goody-Goody, Peanut Butter, Honey, and Banana Mash

Still my favorite way to eat Bananas, this is something my Dad invented when my sister and I were little.  He called it Goody-Goody, and it sure is.  It is a great way to get my kiddo to eat her leftover Bananas, and get some protein.  I'm sure you could use any kind of nut butter, or soy nut butter if you don't do Peanuts.  It's such a treat I consider it a dessert alternative.

1 Banana, mashed
1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter
1 teaspoon Honey

Mix and eat.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

2 Tbs. butter  melted
2 Tbs. of vegetable oil
1/3 cup of Buttermilk
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup of flour
3 Tbs. of Cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup of sugar

1 cup grated zucchini (I use my food processor), squeezed of excess liquid
1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt butter in a microwave safe dish, mix in the rest of the wet ingredients.  Dump all the dry ingredients into the bowl and lightly mix dry ingredients before stirring in with wet.  Lastly add the zucchini and chocolate chips.  Drop into greased or lined muffin tins by the 1/4 cup, makes 8.   Bake for 30 minutes.  Let cool in the pan for another 10 before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.  Store in an air-tight container.  They are better the second day, and great as-is, no frosting necessary.

1 Muffin has 205 calories.

Real Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats

Craving chocolate I kicked myself for not buying cocoa krispies to make the treats.  I was so focused on holiday rice krispies that when I didn't find them, I didn't think about anything but plain.

Then a thought occurred to me to try using actual chocolate, who knows what they put in cocoa krispies to make them taste chocolaty.  So I searched on-line for a recipe and discovered a few things.  Most people who tried adding chocolate chips mistakenly use the whole bag (12 oz./2 cups) instead of just using enough, 1/2 cup.  Secondly, hardly anyone thought about how adding chocolate would mean a need to increase liquid to make it work/easier to mix.

So I came up with this recipe and I think it's a winner, if not a little more labor intensive.  Next time I may use the microwave and mini-marshmallows.  Because it took so long for the big marshmallows to dissolve, it slightly turned the mixture into candy, allowing the treats to get stiff enough to cut only an hour or so after I made them.  Great if you need them in a hurry.

4 Tablespoons of Butter
1/2 cup (120 grams) of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 10-oz. bag of marshmallows
6 cups of plain rice krispees

On the stove, over a very low heat, stirring constantly, melt the butter and chocolate chips, then add in the marshmallows.  Stir constantly until marshmallows dissolve.  Stir in rice krispees until well coated, spread out into a greased glass dish.  Let cool and cover.

Calories: 2,494    Per 1/24: 104

Frozen Cranberry Salad

This "salad" has been a mainstay in our family during the Holidays for as long as I can remember. I've seen other recipes that include cream cheese and nuts but this is the recipe handed down to me from my grandmother.

1 bag (12 oz.) fresh, raw cranberries rinsed and sorted
2 cups white sugar
16 oz. of mini-marshmallows*
1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple
2 cups whipping cream (evaporated milk for lighter, heavy whipping cream for heavier, but I think regular whipping cream produces the  best results)

In a food processor pulse the cranberries and in a bowl combine with the sugar. In a separate bowl stir the crushed pineapple into the marshmallows. Cover and let rest in the fridge overnight. In a much larger bowl combine the cranberry mixture with the pineapple marshmallows. Whip the cream and fold into the lot of it. Spread out into a container with a lid, cover and freeze. It should be ready to eat in 8 hours.

*If you are gluten free make sure your marshmallows are as well.

Calorie counting:   Pineapple: 315, Cranberries: 150, Sugar: 1440, Marshmallows: 1350, Whipping Cream, Regular: 1440, Total: 4695 / 24 Servings = 195 Calories

Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce

From The Betty Crocker Cookbook, copyright 1969.  I have never made a bad cake from this cookbook.  It is a cake and quick bread lovers' delight.

This was a go-to dessert of my Moms when I was a child.  So it not only is comfortingly spicy for fall, but reminiscent of my childhood.

I know as far as culinary expertise goes this is not a complex or complicated cake, but that's what makes it so wonderful.  Feel free to add in chopped crystallized ginger, fresh ginger root, and whatever makes you happy.  Unless you add more liquid, I don't think you can screw up this cake.

Gingerbread:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, or *Gluten free baking mix*
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup dark molasses
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 325 F.  Grease and flour a round cake pan or 9x9 square pan, or glass baking dish.  Cream the sugar, butter, molasses, hot water.  Beat in the eggs.  Add the flour, soda, ginger, cinnamon, and salt, gently stir together before beating till just smooth.  Scrape down sides as needed.  Pour into pan, bake for 50 minutes.  Serve warm with Lemon Sauce

Lemon Sauce:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 egg well beaten
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel
3 Tablespoons lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Over medium heat, bring to bubbling, stirring constantly.  Serve warm on the ginger cake.

Pound Cake

Recipe link below, so good it's addictive.

I had decided long ago to make pound cake, and Challah, for the market, because they required a lot of eggs, which was the first thing our farm ever produced.  In the Market rules, your baked goods must have an agricultural product, and you-a home processor permit (free, in KY).  Secondly, you must have an egg producer certificate or license, which we did, to use your own chickens' eggs in baked goods for sale, or sell to commercial establishments.  The license means you are following production and handling rules, i.e. washing and refrigeration.  I've known other bakers who couldn't use their chickens' eggs at all in their baked goods for this reason.  Oddly enough you can still sell up to 60 dozen a week, direct sales, without a license.

So, since we aren't marketing, and won't be again for awhile, if ever, here is the recipe I used, which I modified for ease and finished product perfection, Paula Deen's pound cake recipe. 

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups plus more for pan all purpose flour
• 3 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) plus more for pan butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I also had come up with a variety of seasonal favorites.  One of the most popular was Lemon.  Just add zest, would work for Lime, and Orange as well.

Black Bean Brownies or Flourless Brownies

2 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
4 large eggs
1/2 cup melted butter, more for the baking dish
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract
3/4-1 cup cane sugar
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 
  
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt the butter in your 8 inch baking dish in the microwave.  Swirl it around the dish to "grease."  Place the black beans, melted butter, eggs, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract and sugar in the bowl of a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth.  Gently stir in the chocolate chips before pouring mixture into the prepared pan.  Bake the brownies for 40 minutes, or until just set in the center. Cool before cutting into 16 squares.  Cover and refrigerate once cool.

 I could not recommend these on day 1.  They were oddly dry and spongy, in addition to not being sweet enough because I goofed on the amount of sugar.  Also, as I expected, all the chocolate chips had sunk to the bottom.  A remedy would be to use the tiny chips, or melt the chips with the butter to achieve a truly chocolaty flavor, because, let's be honest, cocoa powder doesn't cut it.

By day 2, and even more by day 3, they were fudgy, not dry, and had taken on a more chocolaty flavor.  Not bad at 160 calories per brownie, 175 if you use the full cup of sugar.

Poached Apples with Port Soaked Prunes and Spiced Syrup

In all my years of eating and cooking it is rare for me now to come across something that makes me close my eyes because it is so delicious.  This dessert did.  Although, not everyone at the table was as taken with this dessert, I didn't mind...more for me.

Granny Smith Apples, fist sized or larger
Prunes (I had to go to a natural foods market to get ones without preservatives)
1 cup of Sugar
1 quart of water
Port
1 Cinnamon stick (4 inches long)
2 whole Cloves

Put the Prunes in a small dish and cover with Port, microwave until simmering, let sit for 6 hours.

In a small pot, bring the sugar and water to a moderate boil.  Peel and remove the core so that it leaves a small divot in the center of the apple (for the prune).

Boil halves of apples for 2-3 minutes, as many as will fit in the pot at a time.  Do not let the apples get mushy.  Remove and set aside, refrigerate.  The poaching will keep them from browning.

Once all the apples are done, lower the heat on the syrup to a slow simmer, add cinnamon stick and cloves.  Let reduce to 1 cup of liquid, check infrequently at first and more often later.

To serve:  Place one apple half in dish, put prune in divot, ladle 1-2 Tablespoons syrup over apple.

Discard or drink port.  200 calories per serving.

We had plenty of spiced syrup leftover that I am excited to try on french toast or stirred into tea.  Plus the reduction made my house smell fabulous for the whole day.

Cranberry Season! 3 delicious recipes, including Cranberry Pound Cake!

Avid readers may remember my desire for Cranberries during my pregnancy.  While my post-pregnant love has waned, it still exists and cannot be denied.  I bought my first bag last week.  And I intend to buy several more.  I found out last year that if you buy a lot early and put them in your fridge or freezer they will be better off than the ones that sit at the store or are shipped later in the season.

My first Cranberry desire:  Simple Ol' Cranberry Sauce

1 bag (3 cups) fresh Cranberries (washed and sorted)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Put every thing in a 2-3 quart pot on the stove and bring to a boil.  Let boil for 5 minutes.  At this point I pour it into a mason jar, top with lid and ring, and let sit till cool enough to put in the fridge.  Serves 6, 150 calories per serving.

My second Cranberry desire:  Frozen Cranberry Salad

See my post from last year for the recipe

My third Cranberry desire:  *Cranberry Pound Cake

I dare not reveal my pound cake recipe just in case I ever get back into the markets.  But if you take a regular pound cake recipe and just add a bag of cranberries (washed and sorted of course) you will get similar results.  Like I said last year as I ate a small loaf in one sitting, it's like a party in my mouth.

*I have had success making Gluten Free pound cake.  I simply substituted gluten free baking mix for flour cup for cup (in my regular and GF recipe I use 1/2 cup more flour than is called for).  It is very moist and sweet.  I had one little girl exclaim to her mother when trying a muffin (cupcake) "Mommy, I don't even need any frosting!"

"Sick-Girl" Brownies or The Best Brownies Ever

The only time I allow myself to make brownies is when I am sick.  This happens very rarely, once a year maybe.  For some reason, nothing makes me feel better than eating a pan of brownies, watching Clash of the Titans, and wallowing in my lethargy.  Since I don't typically devour the pan in one sitting, but rather over the course of a few days, it's not as bad as it sounds.

The sad bit is that I don't have a tried and true Brownie recipe.  I like them chocolaty, sweet, crispy on the outside, soft and chewy in the middle.  Using what I had in my kitchen, I miraculously made a delicious batch once.  Luckily, I managed to write the hodge-podge recipe down.  Below is a variation on that recipe.  And, because brownies have such little flour, a gluten free version is easy to make.

3 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
3 Tablespoons Cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Add any or all of the following to enhance flavor:  1/8 tsp. Cayenne pepper, 1/8 tsp. Cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon instant or powdered coffee.  There is something about coffee that brings out the chocolate.

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease an 8x8 glass baking dish.  Melt the chocolate chips and butter in a mixing bowl, add oil, sugar, and vanilla.  Beat in eggs.  Stir together dry ingredients and mix into wet.  Scrape into baking dish.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Let cool on wire rack.  They are always better the next day.

If you have no chips, just increase cocoa powder to 1/2 cup.  If no powder, increase chips to 2/3 cup.  You can use all white sugar and no brown.  If using just brown, lower amount to 1 cup packed.

Next time I plan on trying to use just cocoa powder and no flour.  And if you want to make them absolutely decadent, frost them with chocolate butter-cream frosting.

Vanilla-Lemon Buttermilk (No-Churn) Ice Cream

2 cups regular (not heavy) Whipping Cream
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 Lemon juice (roughly juice from one Lemon)
2 cups full fat Buttermilk

Warm the cream and sugar over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Add Vanilla and salt, stir and combine with buttermilk and lemon juice.  Pour into a 8 cup container and place in the freezer.  Stir once an hour for 8 hours, more often later in the process if you like it creamier.  Leave overnight in freezer.  Makes 12-1/2 cup servings at 255 calories per serving.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

In baking gluten free there are only two kinds of cookies that work really well, oatmeal and peanut butter. And then a thought occurred to me, why not try them together? I've tried every kind of flour to make a delicious peanut butter cookie, any gluten free flour blend will work, but most of them have little to no fiber. But Oat flour has fiber and gives an excellent chew.

All Oat flour in the recipe was a failure. They were too chewy, too tall, and too Oat flavored. It was reminiscent of those horrible 'no-bake' cookies. So a 1/2 and 1/2 blend of Oat and some other flour (not Buckwheat) worked best. If you don't like, or can't eat, Oats use Buckwheat flour.

Finally, most of the recipes I'd found used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but milk chocolate chips lend themselves better to a peanut butter cookie.

1 cup Peanut Butter
6 Tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoon pure Vanilla extract
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon milk
1 cup all purpose flour (gluten free or not)
1 cup Oat flour (I grind whole oats at home)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup of milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325. Melt the butter in the microwave, stir in the peanut butter and sugar, beat in the egg and yolk, and vanilla. Add the 2 cups of flour, salt, baking soda, and loosely stir the salt and soda into the flour before mixing. Add the chips, mix till incorporated. Drop by the level Tablespoon (rounded teaspoon) full onto parchment lined baking sheets. Press a criss-cross pattern into each cookie with the back of a fork (this is a must do). Bake 2 sheets at a time for 10-12 minutes alternating half way through. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Makes 4 dozen.