sweet saturday: one minute peanut butter cake Picture this scene: it’s 8:30 in the evening. The sky is just starting to get dark outside your living room window. You ate a delicious, healthy and veggie-filled dinner a few hours ago and now you are ready to sit down to the most recent episode of So You Think You Can Dance and dive into a decadent plate of dessert. Oh wait, you have no dessert. No chocolate, no cookies, no ice cream, no cake, no pie, not even a Jordan almond. Well she’s to go to her microwave. You can make a delicious, fluffy, moist peanut butter cake in your microwave in about one minute (30 seconds mixing, 30 seconds zapping). The options are also pretty endless. One Minute Peanut Butter Cake Print This Recipe Serves One Like my peanut butter microwave cake? Ingredients: 1 egg, beaten1 tablespoon brown sugar1/2 teaspoon baking powder1 heaping tablespoon flour2 tablespoons peanut butter1 teaspoon milk1 tablespoon powdered sugar (give or take) Directions:
Honeyed Pears in Puff Pastry Poaching fruit is one of my favorite things to do when cold weather arrives. It's so warming to stand over a boiling pot of fragrant spices and lose yourself in thought. When I made these, I couldn't help but daydream as I stirred; if I were a pear... I wouldn't want to spend my days on the shelf of a cold produce department. I'd want to be taken to a warm home and placed in a jacuzzi of honey and spices. That sounds a little silly, but that's what I'd want... if I were a pear. The idea for these came from the Pepperidge Farm website. On a personal note, our Christmas tree is already up courtesy of Mr. Since poaching is a relatively easy task, I'll skip to some helpful tips for wrapping the pears in puff pastry. The poaching liquid has a high concentration of sugar, so your pears will be sticky. When you reach the top, tuck in the end piece of pastry behind the last spiral. 4 small pears 1 sheet of ready made puff pastry dough, thawed 4 cups water 2 cups sugar 1 cup honey 1/2 lemon
The Infamous Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies Now, I have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I swear by. I love it, I think it is incredible, and I haven’t changed my mind about that. However, as much as it pains me to say it, these chocolate chip cookies by Jacques Torres are absolutely, without a doubt, the best chocolate chip cookies that I have ever made or tasted in my entire life. I guess that’s why they call him Mr. Chocolate! Either way, I made these and everyone that tried them went nuts. Edit: For more Jacques Torres deliciousness, check out my Jacques Torres Chocolate Mudslide Cookies! Your ingredients. Whisk together the cake flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat together the butter and sugars, until light and fluffy, at least 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Add in the flour mixture, very gradually, until just moistened. Fold in your chocolate. Milk is, in fact, an essential component to enjoying these amazing cookies. Author: The Crepes of Wrath Prep time:
Strawberry Champagne Ruffle Cake for a Virtual Baby Shower – Cook Like a Champion Without a doubt, one of the most rewarding things about food blogging is all the amazing friends I’ve made along the way. Even though we’ve never met in person, I am so thankful to have made such wonderful friends, and I hope we’ll all have the chance to meet someday. I hate that we’re spread all over the country because I know we would all have a fabulous time together. There are some things that simply have to be celebrated with friends, no matter the distance between them. That’s why I decided to host a virtual baby shower for Annie . I am so grateful to have a friend like her, and I just couldn’t let her pregnancy go by without celebrating it in a special way. Ashely from Delish made mock champagne punch . Shawnda from Confections of a Foodie Bride made pink/blue corn blinis with crab and avocado crema . Nikki from Pennies on a Platter made baby hummus sandwiches . Elly from Elly Says Opa made stuffed mushrooms . This shower has quite the dessert lineup, too.
Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries | Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries These cheesecake stuffed strawberries are the perfect dessert treat! Can I just say that I have died and gone to heaven. Cheesecake stuffed strawberries….how have I not made these before?! I’m serious. They are amazing! Making up the filling was a breeze too. Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries Yield: 10 - 12 strawberries (depending on size) Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 0 minutes Total Time: 15 minutes Ingredients: 1 pound large strawberries 8 ounce block cream cheese – softened 3 – 4 tablespoons powdered sugar (depends on how sweet you want the filling) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or use almond, lemon, etc. ) Graham cracker crumbs Source: Inspired by pictures seen on Pinterest Directions: Rinse strawberries and cut around the top of the strawberry. Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla with a mixer or by hand. You could also drizzle or dip strawberries in chocolate if desired. Enjoy!!!
Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets | Ginas Skinny Recipes Chunks of all white meat chicken breasts coated in breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese then baked until golden. An easy chicken recipe your whole family will love. What can be more kid friendly than chicken nuggets, even the pickiest kids like them. Serve them with ketchup, bbq sauce or whatever you like to dip your nuggets into. Adults can serve them over your favorite salad for a satisfying lunch. Kids love finger foods or anything you can eat with toothpicks so when my daughter was young I would make her a dish of bite sized goodies she liked such as tomatoes, olives, pasta, etc. and served them with toothpicks and she always cleaned her plate! Once I'm in breading mode I usually make breaded zucchini sticks as well and bake them all at the same time along with some pasta and a salad for a complete meal. Double these for more or make half for less servings. Ingredients: Preheat oven to 425°. Put the olive oil in one bowl and the breadcrumbs, panko and parmesan cheese in another.
Hi Hat Cupcakes I did it. I finally made them. Hi Hat Cupcakes have consumed my cupcake thoughts since I first saw their tall chocolate dipped tops online after I started blogging. But, I have to tell you, I’ve been nervous to make them. But this weekend, I tried them. So I decided to use the only recipe I remembered seeing. > Update: I just realized this recipe is also from the book, Cupcakes! Chopped chocolate. But even better with the frosting. If I had paid attention to the directions beforehand I don’t know if I would have been as eager to get started. 12 minutes later and a candy thermometer in check to make sure the frosting formed stiff peaks at the right temperature. Actually, it never made it to just the right temp, but after 12 minutes… I was over holding the hand mixer. So I took a leap of faith it would work and piped it on the cupcakes… as tall as I could get it. The cupcakes went in the freezer while I prepared for the scary part. One bag of semi-sweet chocolate. Tasty. Okay, here goes…
Charlotte Russe | Never Enough Thyme - Recipes and food photographs featurning southern cooking. Do y’all remember me saying how sometimes I get a recipe in my head and I just can’t forget it until I make it? Even if it’s not the right time of year? Even if it’s a family tradition for Christmas and it’s the middle of August? Yeah. When I asked Mama to email me her recipe she also sent me some notes about the preparation. “You cannot be in a hurry when you make this. My grandmother used to make this every Christmas and Thanksgiving. So, summoning up all the gentleness I could muster, I set out to make Mama’s recipe for Charlotte Russe. You start out by stirring together milk and gelatin and letting it sit a few minutes to soften. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. In another large bowl, beat the whipping cream and then set that aside as well. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks, gradually adding the sugar, until you have a fluffy, pale yellow mixture. Very gradually stir the whiskey into the egg yolk mixture. Line a bowl with ladyfingers. Enjoy! Ingredients
Cinnamon Toast&Rolls The USDA released its new food pyramid the other day (which is actually a plate now instead of a pyramid), and I am sorely disappointed to report that cinnamon rolls did not appear anywhere on that plate. I think by now most of us know what should be on our dinner plate in terms of healthy, well-rounded nutrient-laden meals, but it is my considered opinion that our breakfast plate should include cinnamon rolls now and then. And not just any cinnamon roll, mind you, but how ‘bout a homemade cinnamon roll hybrid that is a cross between a cinnamon roll and cinnamon toast, is super easy to make and gosh darn delicious. In honor of their ancestry, I call these little gems cinnamon toast rolls, and here’s all you need to make them… Yep. Trim the crusts off of the bread Roll the bread really flat Brush both sides of the bread with butter Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar Roll in any fashion you like (I’ve also folded them into little triangles) Cinnamon Toast Rolls Click here for a printable recipe
Caramel Apple Pie Cupcakes « The Craving Chronicles It seems like once the weather cools down everyone wants to jump right into pumpkin season. Don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkin as much as anyone else, but to me September is apple season. I was thinking about how often apples get overshadowed by pumpkin a few weeks ago when my husband asked me if I wanted to attend a dinner party with some of his coworkers. It took me a while to decide on an approach for these cupcakes. Ultimately, I decided the best way to pack that punch of apple flavor into a cupcake was to use apple pie filling. I was apprehensive while putting these cupcakes together. In the end, they didn’t. They tasted approximately a million times better than I had imagined. I was hoping for good cupcakes, but these were amazing. Caramel Apple Pie Cupcakes Printable Recipe (Includes all sub-recipes) Makes about 24 cupcakes There are several steps to complete before assembling the cupcakes, but some can be done a day ahead to speed things up. Ingredients Directions Apple Filling
How To Make Perfect Brownies I’ve tried lots of brownie recipes: Boxes, scratch, frosted, plain, nuts, chips, fudge … Each of them has something to like, but depending on my mood I might want a change of pace. Not any more. My wife found this recipe, and it’s perfect. I’m done looking. This is the brownie recipe that I’ll use from now on. Ingredients 1½ cups sugar ¾ cup flour ¾ cup cocoa powder (see note below) 3 eggs ¾ cup butter, melted ½ teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter) ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (see note below) Directions A NOTE ON CHOCOLATE: You’ll notice the list of ingredients is very short. The assembly is about as easy as you can get. Do this by hand, until the dry ingredients are just incorporated into the wet, and stop. Stir in the chocolate chips. Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment. Pour the batter and spread it out. Bake at 325° for 20-30 minutes. Very carefully lift the parchment out of the baking dish. Peel the edges and let cool for a few minutes before slicing. Like this recipe?
Cinnamon Raisin Bread I mean who doesn’t love raisin cinnamon bread?? I love it dearly, but have fairly high standards for the stuff. First off, it needs to have some heft to it…yeasty, but still light enough to toast up nicely. If that sounds good to you, then you really need to think about making this for yourself. I started with the Light Wheat Bread recipe from the Bread Bakers Apprentice cookbook as the basis, added some gluten, for that heft I was talking about, raisins, and a good dusting of cinnamon sugar. Since we’re using instant yeast in this, it’s just a matter of combining all your dough ingredients into a bowl, mixing, kneading, rolling into a ball, and letting it rise for a couple of hours. Then roll it into a rectangle and apply the cinnamon sugar… Roll it up, place it in your loaf pan and let it rise a final time. Then bake.... cool and slice. Cinnamon Raisin BreadPrintable Recipe 1. 2. 3. Pinch the final seam closed with the back edge of your hand or with your thumbs. 4. 5. 6. 7.