Almond Buttercream Frosting

I found this recipe in a cookbook while we were on vacation on Cape Cod.  It is super simple and tastes great.

Here it is:

1 stick soft butter
1 C confectioners sugar
1/4 t salt
1 t almond extract (or any extract you'd like)

Cream butter in mixer.  Add sugar and salt.  Beat until fluffy.  Stir in extract of choice.  Spread on cakes, cookies, waffles, pancakes, etc.  The recipe also suggested topping your baked good slathered in frosting with 1 C toasted coconut.  Yum :)  

Cake Fridays

It was my mom's birthday so I made her one of her favorites: marble cake with fudge frosting.  I married my grandmother's recipe with this recipe.  I put one scoop of vanilla batter and one scoop of chocolate batter into each cavity of a mini bundt pan and swirled the batter.  I baked them at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven temperature.  It made about a dozen mini bundts.  

FYI: I substituted buttermilk for skim milk in the cake and frosting recipes.  I also made a white chocolate drizzle with 1/2 C white chocolate chips and 1 T buttermilk melted over a double boiler.  I sprinkled confetti sprinkles over each one.

The swirled cake had the perfect ratio of vanilla to chocolate flavor and the frosting coated each mini bundt with a layer of rich, melt in your mouth fudge candy.  I can't say enough good things about this cake.

Here is what it looks like without the frosting:

I encourage everyone to make this marble cake with fudge frosting for your next get together or to celebrate the fact that you made it through another week!  It is an easy, foolproof recipe that I will make for many if not all birthday parties from this day forward.  It is that good :)

Baked Indian Pudding

I have been wanting to make this pudding for quite sometime.  I put my spin on it by using cardamom sugar in place of regular sugar and substituting pumpkin pie spice for cinnamon.  This is best eaten a day or two after it's made and provides 6-8 servings.  It's deliciously creamy, spicy, and just plain comforting to the soul.

Here is the original recipe.

Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches

In my efforts to scour the internet for everything that contains my favorite ingredient, buttermilk, I stumbled upon this recipe.  I made these cookies and then sandwiched them together with the frosting.  Delicious!

Here is the recipe.  

Oatmeal Mondays, A Day Later

Coconut Apple Pie Oatmeal

1/2 C oats
1 apple, diced
sprinkling cinnamon
enough water to cover
1 t coconut oil

Place all ingredients except coconut oil in microwave safe bowl.  Cook 2.5 minutes.  Stir in coconut oil until melted.  Enjoy this creamy, coconut apple pie oatmeal :)

Weekend Pancakes

I know it seems like I'm always making pancakes.  That's because I am!  I am slightly obsessed with making homemade buttermilk pancakes!  From pumpkin, carrot cake, peanut butter chocolate chip to this new creation, gingerbread, trying out different pancake recipes has really done our family good!  My daughter likes Nutella slathered on hers, while my son prefers peanut butter.  No surprise there!  The kids can't wait to chow down and my husband and I have been enjoying a flap jack here and there.  They are so puffy and hearty, the perfect way to start the day, especially a lazy weekend morning.  I've been making a big batch at the beginning of the week and then the kids have them all week long.  I love making pancakes now whereas before I dreaded standing over the stove, waiting to see those tiny bubbles.  It might have something to do with my flipping skills improving because I've gotten a lot of practice lately.  There are so many great homemade pancake recipes out there.  Have fun and give them a try :)

FYI: This recipe makes 12 pancakes.  I used 3 T oil instead of butter.  

Here is the recipe.

Frosted Brownies...what could be better?

A glorious brownie recipe was revealed on an episode of The Kitchen on Food Network.  I instantly knew I would be making it sooner rather than later.  Full of rich chocolate flavor, dripping with melted bittersweet chocolate chunks, only a slathering of store bought vanilla frosting (the best kind) could send these over the top. Sprinkle with some red crystals and you've got the perfect dessert to bring to a picnic, potluck, anywhere. Moist like cake yet thick like fudge, these squares will go fast so save one for yourself.  You'll thank me later.

I think what I like best about these brownies is that they are not overly sweet or bitter.  They have a nice balance to them.  My kids devoured them!  Make them for your friends and/or family this weekend and watch them smile with delight.  There's nothing a steamy, succulent chocolate brownie with vanilla frosting can't cure.            

Here is the recipe.

Cherry Muffins

These muffins are an adaptation of a cherry bread recipe I found on Pinterest. I've been experimenting with bread flour, adding it to chocolate chip cookie and quick bread doughs so I used it in this recipe as well.  I added 1/2 C sugar to my muffin batter, instead of a full cup since maraschino cherries are sweet already.  I purchased a 16-ounce jar of maraschino cherries so I had to figure out how many cherries and how much cherry juice to add to the muffin batter. One cup of chopped cherries and a quarter cup of cherry juice seemed to do the trick.  I did not make the glaze.  My muffins baked for 18-20 minutes.

Overall, these pink muffins dotted with red maraschino cherries were deliciously sweet, moist, and chewy. The color reminds me of love so these would be perfect for your special someone on Valentine's Day or an anniversary.  Kids gravitate toward these bright, cheery muffins as well!

Here is the original recipe.

Cookie Cups

These are a creative, yummy spin on the chocolate chip cookie, not to mention the perfect bowl for a scoop of your favorite ice cream.  Enjoy :)

FYI: Mine baked for 13 minutes.

Here is the recipe.

Oatmeal Mondays

My kids are always starving on Monday morning so I made them special pancakes, complete with rolled oats, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. They were a huge hit!  My batch made 18 pancakes so there are plenty of pancakes for my husband and me to sample :)

Here is the recipe.  

Cake Fridays

Cornmeal Cakes :)

3/4 C flour
2 T sugar
1/2 C cornmeal
4 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 C milk
5 T butter
2 eggs

Warm milk and butter in saucepan until melted.  Let cool.  Beat in eggs. Combine flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine.  Using a 1/4 C measure, drop batter onto a warm skillet on the stove top.  Feel free to add Honey Bunches of Oats cereal to make sweet pancakes and crushed Goldfish crackers to make savory pancakes, like I did.  Cook until bubbles form all around cakes and then flip, cooking 2-3 minutes more.  Cool on wire racks or keep warm in the oven if eating immediately.  

Nutella Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I couldn't stop taking pictures of this bread!  It is as beautiful as it is delicious! I made some changes to the recipe to cut down on fat and calories, since it makes 2 loaves and I knew we'd be eating twice as much of it.  I added 1/2 C sugar instead of 3/4 C, since Nutella is very sweet.  I added 1/4 C oil and 1/4 C applesauce instead of 1/2 C oil.  I also added 1 C dried cherries instead of milk chocolate chips.  My breads baked for 37 minutes.  

Buttermilk, bananas, Nutella, chocolate chips, dried cherries...how can you go wrong?!

Here is the original recipe.

Pudding Cookies

These cookies have a box of instant vanilla pudding mix in the batter, giving them the best texture I've found in a cookie yet!  They just melt in your mouth. It's almost hard to describe because they taste underdone but in the best way possible.  Brown on the bottoms, slightly golden on the tops, these treats are still tender after a week in an airtight container.  Soft, smooth, and fluffy with a slight crunch and chew from the abundance of chips running throughout, these cookies are in a league all their own.  

FYI: I used a combination of white, peanut butter, and semisweet chocolate chips to equal 1 C.

Here is the recipe.

Oatmeal Mondays

Kid friendly baked oatmeal :)

3 C oats
1/2 C sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 T cocoa powder
2 t baking powder
1 C chocolate milk
1/2 C melted butter
2 eggs, beaten

Combine all ingredients in large bowl.  Pour into greased, 9 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Cake Fridays

Tea cakes are one of my favorite things to bake because they are quick, easy and taste great with a cup of tea or coffee (hence the name!).  Most of the tea cake recipes I use require 1/2 C butter.  So when I came across this recipe, I was thrilled.  It calls for 1/4 C butter and buttermilk...what could be better?! With the addition of almond extract and lemon zest to the batter, along with slivered almonds on top, this cake is light in texture and taste.  Perfect for lazy morning noshing or after dinner munching.  Don't forget to add a side of vanilla ice cream :)

I've found that this cake is best the day it's made so I would suggest refrigerating it the next day or freezing it in slices.  But trust me, it will not stick around for longer than a day or two.

FYI: I baked my cake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees and then 10 more minutes at 350 degrees, since the top started to get very dark.  But every oven is different so use your best judgement!    

Click here for the recipe.  

Double Coconut Chocolate Chip Quick Bread

If you are a coconut and chocolate lover, this bread is for you!  The original recipe was for a triple coconut bread since coconut milk was added as well.  I made my own version but feel free to bake up the original.  If you do, please let me know how it turns out!

Double Coconut Chocolate Chip Quick Bread
Slightly adapted from here

1/3 C coconut oil, melted and cooled
3/4 C sugar
1 1/2 C buttermilk
2 eggs
2 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon
1 t cornstarch
1/2 C mini chocolate chips
1/2 C unsweetened shredded coconut

Beat coconut oil and sugar in stand mixer for 2 minutes.  Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Add to stand mixer and mix on low until combined.  In a small bowl, add cornstarch to mini chocolate chips so they don't sink to the bottom of the loaf.  Gently fold chips and coconut into the batter and stir to combine.  Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 37 minutes, uncovered.  Then cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 10-12 minutes or until done when a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.      

Easy Cornbread

As most of you know, I am slightly obsessed with corn bread, corn muffins, hush puppies...if it contains cornmeal, I generally want to eat it and a lot of it. Here is a new recipe I've made twice now and I have to say this may just be the end of my cornbread search.  This is the perfect recipe in my mind and my family absolutely loves it.  It is even better in muffin form.  A great side dish to any meal (you don't even need to add butter because it is so flavorful), this cornbread is so sweet that it eats like a dessert!  Serve this at your next feast and marvel at its perfection.  I don't make any substitutions or leave anything out.  I have only baked the batter in a muffin tin to save time.  The batter makes 15 muffins and I baked mine for 13 minutes, half of the time it takes to bake it in an 8x8 pan.  The search for the perfect cornbread/muffins is over for me, is it over for you?

Here is the recipe.

White Chocolate Brownies

I wish I came up with this recipe!  It hails from Bake or Break, one of my favorite blog sites.

You can see from the photos that the tops of these brownies get golden brown, forming a paper thin, buttery crust.  They are deliciously and expertly decorated with semi sweet chocolate chips.  These brownies are light like a cake but rich like a fudgy brownie.  They are not super sweet, which is why I sometimes shy away from using white chocolate.  The slightly bitter chips balance them out perfectly.  You get the best of both worlds.      

These brownies were gone in 2 days flat in our house (that might be a record!).  I really can't say enough good things about them and I am a lover of a chocolate brownie.  Luscious white and semi sweet chocolate create a little square of heaven covered with a shiny, satiny top.  These brownies are something to celebrate.

Here is the recipe.

FYI: I melted the white chocolate chips with 1/4 C + 2 T oil instead of butter.  I also added only 1/2 C chocolate chips instead of 1 C chocolate chunks. Mine baked for 20 minutes.