Thanksgiving Aftermath

I hope everyone had a great day full of wonderful food!

Amish Friendship Bread

Okay first off Dollies, I need to thank my new boss at the bakery for giving me the starter, without which I would not have been able to make this WONDERFUL bread for Thanksgiving.

Here are the directions and ingredients as given to me:

DO NOT use any type of metal bowl or spoon for mixing


DO NOT refrigerate bag

Days 1-5 Mash the bag

Day 6 (TODAY) Add to the bag 1 cup Flour, 1 cup Sugar, and 1 Cup Milk... and mash the bag

Days 7-9 Mash the bag

Day 10:

Pour contents of bag into a non metal bowl. Add 1 1/2 cup Flour, 1 1/2 cup Sugar, and 1 1/2 cup Milk.

Write this day's date on 4 separate gallon bags and measure out 1 cup into each bag.

Keep one for yourself if you wish (you will be making bread every 10 days). Give the other three away with a copy of these instructions (only the Amish know how to make this starter from scratch).

To Bake:

Preheat oven to 325F.

Mix your leftover batter (from above, it won't be much) with 3 eggs, 1 cup oil, 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup sugar, 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, vanilla, and baking soda. Finally add 1 large box of vanilla instant pudding. (optional: 1 cup raisins and/or nuts)

Grease 2 regular bread pans OR 3 Disposable foil pans. Mix 3 Tablespoons sugar with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Dust the pans with half of the mixture. Pour batter evenly into pans, Sprinkle remainder of cinnamon mixture on loaves. Bake 1 hour and let cool before enjoying!

Cranberry Walnut Sour Cream Pound Cake

Hello Dollies! Still in the Thanksgiving spirit I hope! Tonight I am making Cranberry Walnut Sour Cream pound cake (and some mini cakes as well). I will be posting pictures later tonight but here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup Butter (softened to room temp)
3 Eggs (Leave at room temp for 30 min)
2/3 Cup dry cranberries
2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
Finely shredded zest of 1 Lemon
1 1/2 Teaspoons vanilla
8 oz Dairy Sour Cream
3/4 Cup chopped Walnuts
Powdered Sugar (optional)

Grease and lightly flour a 9x5x3inch loaf pan; set aside. Pre-heat oven to 325F.  In a small bowl, pour boiling water over Cranberries; let stand for 10 minutes. Drain well and set aside.

Combine Flour, Salt, Baking Soda, and Baking Powder in another bowl.

In a medium bowl beat butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually add sugar 3 tablespoons at a time, beating on medium speed for 6 minutes; mixture will be grainy but very light and fluffy. Add lemon peel and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing on medium. Scrape sides often. Alternately add flour mixture and sour cream, mixing just until combined. Stir in cranberries and walnuts*. Pour batter into loaf pan.

Bake for 70min or until a toothpick comes out clean. (The cake will be high in the pan) Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack and then remove from pan. Cool completely on rack. If desired, lightly sift powdered sugar over cake before serving.

Thanksgiving Pies

Hello Dollies!

I hope you are all gearing up for a wonderful Thanksgiving next week. While it is typically a time spent giving thanks with family members, let's be honest: Thanksgiving is mainly a food holiday! You know me Dollies, I like to make desserts a little different, so instead of a normal Pecan pie I made a Maple Butter Pecan Pie (above picture, before baked). But of course, I had to go the traditional route and make a Pumpkin pie as well (Below, cooling on a rack).

I am also going to be making a Sour Cream Cranberry Walnut Pound Cake, and some Amish Friendship bread, so stay tuned Dollies!

Harry Potter Cupcakes

Here is a picture of some cupcakes made to look like Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. I did not make these, but a nice girl from "Chucktown Cupcakes" here in Mount Pleasant, SC was kind enough to let us sell these at the candy store I work at since we are located next to a movie theater.

Carrot Cake #2

Early on in October my mother-in-law wanted me to make her a carrot cake for her birthday but she had one simple request- She wanted the cream cheese icing to taste like cream cheese, not powered sugar and cream cheese. I searched every baking book I had and all over the Internet and everything I could find called for 8oz of cream cheese and 6 cups of powdered sugar! Then, just as I was getting frustrated beyond belief I found this gem:

1/2 Cup Butter (Softened)
16oz Cream Cheese (Softened)
2 cups sifted Confectioner's Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Basically all I did was cream the cheese and butter together then slowly add the powdered sugar and vanilla.

So simple and so tasty! After it thickened it tasted like cheesecake on a carrot cake. I am so proud of this cake and apparently word has gotten around because I have 2 more orders for this cake!

Long Time No Post

Good morning Dollies! With my new bakery job (and the graveyard shift) I haven't had a whole lot of time to do too much baking. I have been doing a little bit here and there and later I will be posting some recipes for the things I've been working on. I haven't taken too many pictures as my camera is acting a little funny, but I will have a  few handy.

Cupcake Madness!

Hello Dollies!

I'm sorry that is has been so long since I posted anything new. The only things I have made recently are things I had made before (aka Key Lime Pie). However, since I am leaving my current job to go work in a bakery (I AM SOOOOOO EXCITED DOLLIES!), I felt I needed to go out with a bang. What better way than with an assortment of cupcakes? And not just any cupcakes, oh no, because that wouldn't be my style. I needed something fresh, something different after all. So I made:

"The Afternoon Tea Cupcake"

Perfect for a lazy afternoon spent reading with a nice cup of black tea. Lemon cake with Lavender Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

"The Presto Pesto Cupcake"

An "Un-Cupcake" if you will. A Cornmeal cake with Pesto Cream Cheese spread topped with a cherry tomato. Savory, not sweet.

"The Sweet Southern Nut Cupcake"

Butter Pecan cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting and Praline Pecans. This one is yummy y'all!

AND FINALLY

"The Campfire Cupcake"

What is better than s'mores? S'mores cupcakes! I took a basic Graham Cracker Crust, filled it with Chocolate Fudge cake, then topped that with Toasted Marshmallow icing and a Chocolate Covered Graham Cracker. Its almost better than the real thing!

First there was one...

Well Dollies, it looks like I am officially open for business! I had three more people ask me to make cakes for them today.

Home Kitchen today..... Store Front tomorrow!

Wood Grained Carrot Cake for Billy

Okay so good news is this:

MY FIRST COMMISSIONED CAKE!!!

Carrot Cake with raisins and walnuts and cream cheese icing. The cake and icing are PHENOMENAL!

Bad news is this:

It is nowhere near as perfect as I wanted it to be.

I have only worked with fondant one other time and this was not a good experience. As you can see, I mixed several different colors of fondant in what is called a "marble" color to give it a wood-grained look. Then, I used a wood-like fondant press to give it the look of boards of wood. I like the way it looks, but after I put the fondant on, it cracked. There are a few small cracks and this big one in the back:

I feel so horrible about this. I spent a lot of time on this cake and now I don't even want to charge the lady for anything but the ingredients. This stinks Dollies! There is just no way around that.

Almond Flower Thank You

Today I made an easy cake! I just took a basic White Cake mix, added a 1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar and 1 Teaspoon Almond Extract and Decorated it with Basic Chocolate Butter cream and Almond slivers and VOILA!

A beautiful and easy "Thank You" Cake to be enjoyed by my family and friends....

(Yes I agree, the "T" looks awfully like a "J" Oh well)

Spiced Honey Cream Puffs

Ingredients:

1 Cup Water

1/2 Cup Butter

1/8 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg (For dough)

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/8 Teaspoon Ground Allspice

4 Large Eggs

1 Package Cream Cheese (8oz.) Softened

1/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1/4 Cup Sour Cream

2 Teaspoons Honey

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg (for filling)

Preheat oven to 375F and line a flat baking sheet with parchment paper. (I had to use a cut up paper bag and it didn't work too well).

In a medium saucepan combine butter, water, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

In another bowl mix flour, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg. Comine with butter mixture and stir vigorously with a WOODEN spoon (if you use metal or plastic the dough will stick) until a ball forms. Remove from heat for at least 10 min.

After the dough is completely cooled to room temperature, place in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs one at a time beating on medium. Continue until the mixture is smooth. Spoon 12 equal sized mounds onto the parchment paper. Cook for 30 to 35 minutes. After cooking let cool for at least 30 minutes.

Filling:

In a large bowl combine sour cream, honey, cream cheese, whipping cream, and remaining nutmeg. Beat on high until smooth. (At first it may look something like cottage cheese but keep beating until smooth) Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Cut puffs open throug the center and fill with your desired amount of filling. Drizzle with honey and serve immediately.

Buzz Lightyear Birthday Cake

Well my nephew Noah had his first Birthday party today (You know, the one I made the frog cake for the night he was born?!?) and the theme was Toy Story. This was my first attempt at an actual character cake and all things considered, I think it turned out pretty well. What do you think Dollies?

Lemon Poppy Muffins with Raspberry Butter

Sorry Dollies, but my internet has been going in and out so for this recipe I am just going to cut and paste from the Food Network site (where I found it).

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar, plus 1 teaspoon for sprinkling
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Raspberry Butter, recipe follows


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a standard 12-well muffin pan or a jumbo 6-well muffin pan.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and lemon juice.
Make a well in center of the flour mixture and pour the buttermilk mixture into the well. Add the melted butter and use a rubber spatula to blend with quick strokes, being careful not overmix the batter; it should still be slightly lumpy. Gently stir in the poppy seeds and lemon zest.
Spoon batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each well 3/4 full. Bake until slightly puffed and golden, 20 to 22 minutes. Cooking time may be a little longer if you are baking jumbo-sized muffins. Lightly sprinkle sugar over the tops of the muffins, if desired. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool slightly on a wire rack. Serve the muffins warm, with Raspberry Butter.

Raspberry Butter:
1 (6-ounce) container fresh raspberries, picked through
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch salt

Place raspberries in a food processor and pulse until completely pureed. Place raspberry puree in a fine-meshed sieve set over a medium bowl, pressing to extract all the juice from the puree. Discard the seeds and pulp.
Pour the strained puree into a medium saucepan and add the lemon juice and sugar. Bring mixture to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes, or until the mixture slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and cool puree completely.
Cream together the butter, honey, salt, and cooled puree until smooth and well blended. (This may take up to 5 minutes on high speed.) Place butter in molds or onto sheets of plastic wrap and roll into logs. Refrigerate until well chilled and firm.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups butter

Chocolate Key Lime Pie

This is the same recipe for the Chilled Key Lime pie I made the other day, except now it has a Chocolate Graham Cracker crust and shaved Semi-Sweet Chocolate on top. Now I know mixing all of these flavors together may seem like a bad idea, but the Chocolate goes very well with the vanilla and coconut topping, and the chocolate in the crust cuts some of the extreme bitterness of the key lime filling.

All in all, I'd say this is, so far, one of my most popular desserts to date. So, if you're in the mood to try a new twist on an old summer favorite, I definately recomend giving this pie a shot.

Strawberry Granitas with Fresh Lemon Cream

Who doesn't enjoy a nice cold treat in the middle of summer? These are the perfect thing to cool you down, if you just have enough patience to wait while they freeze, but trust me, these are definately worth the wait!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 Cups Water

2/3 Cup Sugar (For Granita)

4 Cups Fresh Strawberries (About 2 Containers)

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1/3 Cup Whipping Cream

1 Teaspoon Finely Shredded Lemon Zest

2 Teaspoons Sugar (for Cream)

Combine water and 2/3 Cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is completely disolved. Set aside and let cool.

Puree the berries in a food processor until smooth (you may add up to 1/3 of the sugar syrup to help puree the strawberries easier). Strain with fine mesh over a bowl and discard the seeds. Stir this and the lemon juice into the syrup.

Pour this mixture into a 2 Quart square baking dish. Cover and freeze for 6 hours or until firm. Stir after 2 hours, and once an hour after. Before serving, beat mixture with a fork or until fluffy.  Top with Lemon Cream and Enjoy!

Lemon Cream:

Combine Whipping Cream, 2 Teaspoons sugar, and Lemon zest in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium or until soft peaks form.

Roasted Plum Purse

This was a purse to begin with, but the pastry dough expanded durring cooking.

Ingredients:

5 Ripe Red Plums, pitted and Sliced into quarters

1 1/2 cups Riesling or Dessert Wine

1 Egg White

2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract

1/2 of 17oz Frozen Puff Pastry Dough (1 Sheet), thawed

2 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour

4 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar

4 Tablespoons Packed Dark Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons Butter cut into Pea-sized pieces

Preheat oven to 350F. In a 3 or 4 quart oven save baking dish, place plums cut side up in rows. Pour the wine and vanilla extract over the plums evenly. Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar over the whole dish. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the edges of the plums begin to brown.

Grease a 2 quart oven safe baking dish and place thawed pastry dough with edges folding outward over the edge of the dish. In a small bowl stir the remaining 2 Tablespoons of granulated sugar, flour, butter, and 2 Tablespoons of the dark brown sugar together. After poking a few holes in the bottom of the pastry, sprinkle half of this mixture evenly.

When the plums are done cooking, gently spoon them out while straining the liquid away. (They will be VERY soft so you will need to be very careful that you don't turn them to a big mushy mess) While you are doing this, try to remove the plum peel (not all of it will come off, just remove what you can). After straining the plums, place them in rows inside the pastry dough. Top with the remaining dry mixture and 2Tablespoons of dark brown sugar. Gently fold cornes of the pastry over the filling and hold together with a toothpick (as you can see, I did not think this was something I needed to do... I was wrong).

Gently whisk your egg white and brush lightly over the dough. Bake on 400F for aproximately 20min or until the dough is a nice golden brown. Let cool completely before eating.

Enjoy!

Chilled Key Lime & Coconut Pie

Although the recipe I had didn't call for coconut or vanilla, I found the taste to be a bit bland.

Ingredients:

1 Graham Craker Crust

1 can (14oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Teaspoon finely grated Key Lime peel

1/2 Cup Key Lime Juice

2 Cups Whipping Cream

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut

Fresh Lime Slices (for decoration)

For the filling, combine grated peel, condensed milk, and lime juice in a medium sized bowl and set aside. In a second medium bowl beat only one cup of whipping cream on medium until soft peaks form (tips will begin to curl). Fold gently into lime mixture. Pour into pie crust and cover. Freeze for 2 to 4 hours or until firm.

After the filling is firm remove from freezer. In a medium bowl beat remaining whipping cream and vanilla extract on medium until soft peaks form. Spoon onto the top of pie filling (do not mix).

To toast the coconut place in an even, flat layer on a greased baking sheet. Heat oven to 350F. Cook for aproximately 7 minutes or until the coconut is a golden color. Sprinkle on top of whipped topping. Garnish with fresh lime and enjoy!

Creamy Coconut Cake

This is for the 4 layer version... I tried to make the 2 layer and the cake turned out perfectly but the icing wasn't thick like it should be so I recommend baking everything and making the whole cake.

2 Eggs

1 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cups Sugar

1/2 Cup Milk

2 Tablespoons Butter

1 Teaspoons Vanilla

3/4 Cups Shredded Coconut


Allow eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 mins. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease and lightly flour two 9in round cake pans (Wilton makes something called "Cake Release" that worked very well for me); set aside. In small bowl stir together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In Large bowl beat eggs with an electric mixer on high speed about 4min or until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add sugar, beating on medium speed for 4 or 5min or until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture; beat on low to medium speed until just combined.

In small saucepan combine milk and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until butter is melted. Stir in vanilla. Add warm milk mixture to egg mixture; beat until combined. Pour batter into prepared pans, spreading evenly.

Bake 15 to 18min or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10min. Remove from pans, cool completely on racks.

Wash and dry pans. Repeat the process to make two more layers. Cover the first two layers to keep them moist.
To assemble, turn three cakes bottom sides up. Spread each layer with 3/4 cup Creamy Rich Frosting (recipe below) and sprinkle with 1/4 shredded coconut. Stack layers on serving plate. Place remaining cake layer, rounded side up, on top. Frost top and side of cake with remaining frosting. Garnish with more shredded coconut or fresh coconut curls.

Creamy Rich Frosting- 6 Cups

In a bowl combine one 16oz carton sour cream, 1 pint (2 Cups) whipping cream, 1 1/2 Cups powdered sugar, and 2 Teaspoons of vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until mixture is thickened and soft peaks form (tips curl).


Fresh Coconut Curls

Separate coconut meat from shell in large pieces. Thinly slice with a vegetable peeler. Arrange slices on baking sheet. Bake in the 350F oven for 2 to 3min or just until edges start to brown and coconut is dry; cool.

Baking Marathon!

Hello Dollies! Sorry for the lack of baking this last month, I have been very busy with my other jobs...  to make up for it, however, this upcoming weekend I am going to bake something new EVERY DAY for 5 days!

That's right, come back every day for something new to feast your eyes with, and don't worry, I will be including recipies too! Here's a look at a few upcoming choices:

Almond-Fig Thumbprint Cookies
Roasted Plum and Raspberry Tart
Strawberry Granita
Raspberry Limeade Cake
Whipped Key-Lime Pie