Berry Cake

So my oh so wonderful friend, Melissa, dropped off some fresh picked strawberries and blueberries yesterday and I couldn't resist the urge to use them in some baked deliciousness.   I whipped up a quick little dessert adapted from the recipe I found here.  What berry desserts do you all like?

This what you will need:
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons of butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1 large egg
1/2 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of lemon zest, divided
Approximately 1 pound of berries (more or less to taste, I quartered the strawberries and left the blueberries as is)

This is what you do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep pie or tart pan (approximately 10 inch dish).  Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in bowl then set to the side.  In an electric mixer blend butter and sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.  Mix in egg, milk, vanilla and 1 teaspoon of lemon zest.  Add in flour mixture, combine thoroughly but don't over mix.  Spread batter into prepared dish and then arrange berries cut side down into top of the batter, press gently.  Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until golden brown and knife inserted to the cake comes clean.  Cool and sprinkle remaining lemon zest just prior to serving.  Enjoy!!!

Honey Beer Bread

I love honey beer bread, it's super easy to make and delicious.  So this weekend I whipped up a batch for us to enjoy.

This is what you'll need:

1 bottle of beer (your choice of beer, I used a Southern Tier Double Milk Stout)
3 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tbsp of sugar
3 tbsp of honey
4 tbsp of butter (melted)
1 tbsp of baking powder
1 tsp of salt

This is what you do:

Preheat oven to 350 and prep 9"x5"x3" loaf pan with cooking spray.

Whisk dry ingredients together in large bowl, mix in honey and beer with a wooden spoon.
Pour half of the melted butter into the prepped loaf pan and then place batter on top.
Pour remaining butter on top of  butter and use pastry brush to spread.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the middle comes clean.  Enjoy!!  Tell me about some of your favorite bread recipes.

Piña Colada Cake...yes please!

Well, my weekend didn't go as planned but I still got a lot done and I'm hoping with the time change I will have more motivation to do stuff after work rather then trying to cram everything in on the weekends.  I did work in the yard... a lot, but won't show finished product yet (probably because it's still not finished).  I did bake up this sweet little treat, and it was delish. Piña colada pineapple upside down cake.  The recipe is from good old Betty Crocker  via Pinterest.

Baked French Toast

So, I am very much a breakfast person.  I love eggs, waffles, pancakes, bacon and french toast... in short I love anything breakfast food related.  So this past weekend I whipped up a batch of some baked french toast with a cherry pecan syrup.  Here's the details:

4 oz of softened cream cheese
1/2 stick of softened butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp of white pepper (yes, I had white pepper)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup of milk divided
1 long loaf of French or Italian bread sliced up in about 2 inch slices

Prepare a baking pan with non-stick spray.  Use a blender to blend first 8 ingredients with half of the milk.  Once blended transfer to large bowl and mix in remainder of milk.  Soak each slice of bread in the mixture and then place in baking pan. (This all can be done the night before and kept covered in the fridge.) Just before baking pour remaining mixture over bread.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 35-40 minutes until golden brown on top.

The sauce:

1 can of cherry pie filling (can use any kind of fruit pie filling your little heart desires)
1/4 cup of honey
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 cup of applesauce
3/4 cup of chopped pecans
Mix together and warm in sauce pan.

Top the french toast with the desired amounts of sauce and enjoy.

Please note, this pic was taken with my phone and after I had already eaten most of the french toast, my apologies.  Thank you Garret for the recipe. :)

Chocolate Pie...Oh My!

So the tradition of baking something on the weekend continues.  I made a chocolate pie and it's so yummy.  It's super easy to make and very old school southern.  I utilized a graham cracker crust (pre-made, it's the easiest way to go) and made the filling and meringue topping.  So here's what you need and how to do it.  Enjoy it.

What you will need:

For the filling
1 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups of milk
2 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)
1 tbs shortening
1 tsp vanilla

For the meringue

3 egg whites (two from the reserves of filling mixture)
4 tbs sugar

Stir sugar, salt, cornstarch and cocoa together.  Slowly mix in milk.  Simmer on medium high heat stirring constantly until mixture becomes very thick.  (Much like the consistency of pudding)

Remove from heat and add egg yolks, shortening and vanilla extra.  I tempered that mixture just to ensure the eggs didn't scramble.  Stir ingredients together and add to pie shell.

For the meringue, beat egg whites until fluffy.  Add sugar 1 tbs at a time and beat until stiff white peaks form.  Cover pie filling with meringue and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Oatmeal Stout Gingerbread Coffee Cake

So one of the things on my weekend "to do" list is done.  I made an oatmeal stout gingerbread coffee cake courtesy of a recipe provided to me by Garrett out of his Beer Advocate mag.  So here's the breakdown of what you will need and what to do.  Enjoy!

Cake Ingredients:
12oz Stout
1 cup of Molasses
1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 cup of butter room temp
1 cup brown sugar (tightly packed)
1 tsp fresh ginger peeled & grated
3 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tbsp of baking powder
1 tbsp of ground ginger
2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Oatmeal Streusel Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of oatmeal
1 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of flour
2 tbsp candied lemon peel
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup of chilled butter cut into small pieces

So here's the deal on what to do with all of these ingredients, first be prepared, this takes a good amount of prep time.  Second, my kitchen looked like a flour bomb exploded in it afterwards but that's probably more of an issue with my organization not indicative of the recipe :).

For the cake:

Pour stout in pot over high heat & bring just short of a boil.  Add Molasses, whisk to combine and then add baking soda.  Once all ingredients are combined set to side to cool to room temp (approx. 20 minutes).

Add room temp butter to mixing bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment and cream on medium speed until soft and fluffy.  Add sugar and ginger, beat on high for 2-3 minutes. Add one egg at a time and until thoroughly combined.

In a sifter over a mixing bowl add flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, salt, cloves and nutmeg then sift into bowl to ensure evenly mixed.  Pour stout mixture over flour mixture, gently combine and then add to stand mixer ingredients and combine.

For the Streusel:

In a preheated 350 degree oven lay out oatmeal on baking sheet and toast for approximately 8-10 minutes, mixing it around at least once during the process to ensure even toastiness (not sure if that's a real word).  Remove oatmeal and put in mixing bowl, add in sugar, flour, lemon peel, cardamon & salt.   Let cool.  Once cool mix in chilled butter pieces combining to make tiny balls of deliciousness. 

Putting it together:

In a coated 9x9 pan layer half cake mixture top with half streusel mixture trying to spread evenly.  Layer remaining cake mixture and then streusel. Bake at 350 for approximately 45 minutes.  Once a knife is clean when inserted in the middle of the cake.  Now this is the best part, after it's cooled down a bit pour yourself a nice cup of coffee and slice you up a piece of the delicious little treat and enjoy.

Happy Weekend

I have big plans for myself this weekend, partially because the last several weekends I have felt like a lazy bum and because it is supposed to get up into the low seventies today (you have no idea how happy that makes me). So any who, this is my itinerary for the weekend:

1.  Go for a Run....outside!!!

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2. Bake this


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3. Make a headboard

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With all of these plans and the normal weekend activities, I better get to work. :)  Happy Weekend everyone!