Gingerbread Bundt Cake and the return of baking

It is Fall!  After a hot, long Summer, I can finally turn on my oven again.  To celebrate this occasion I decided to make a very autumn dessert for a luncheon my mom was throwing.  This gingerbread bundt is my new favorite recipe.  The cake tastes unique and flavorful without being too sweet.  The recipe is very easy and the best part is that gingerbread is best made the day ahead of time.  Therefore, this is the perfect thing to bring to a party. 

There are some interesting ingredients in this cake.  Most notable is the cup of molasses and cup of Guinness that makes the rich, dark syrup for the cake.  Lucky for me, I always keep both ingredients on hand.

I pulled the recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen.  If you are looking for a new blog to follow, I highly recommend it.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oatmeal stout or Guinness Stout
•  1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• Confectioners sugar for dusting

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.  HEAVILY grease and flour your bundt pan.  I had a lot of gooey goodness left in my pan after baking even after I thought I over-greased.  Really go for it with this one.

Pour guinness and molasses into a large (yes large) saucepan, bring to a boil and then remove from heat.  (You will have some Guinness leftover.  Do NOT let that go to waste!)

Whisk in baking soda.  There will be a fizzy, foamy reaction that occurs.  Don't panic, just keep stirring until it calms down and let it cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your stand mixer whisk together eggs, white sugar and brown sugar until well combined.  Then, add in the oil and molasses/guinness mixture. Stir until just combined.  Add in the flour, baking powder and spices and whisk again until just combined.

Pour batter into bundt pan and rap pan sharply on counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, check at about 46 minutes.

Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.
Serve cake, dusted with confectioners sugar, with whipped cream.
 

The Simplest Summer Dessert

Grilled stone fruit is an incredibly simple, insanely easy and absurdly delicious dessert.  I've made this many, many times and it is always a crowd pleaser.

Here's what you do:

- Get your hands on some *ripe* peaches or nectarines

- Cut in half and remove the pit

- Sprinkle with sugar (regular or brown)

- Heat up the grill to very hot

- Place fruit flesh side down and leave it there until you get some nice grill marks (about 3 minutes)

- Flip to the other side to finish (about 2 minutes)

Once the fruit is grilled my favorite way to serve it is with a scoop of really good vanilla ice cream in the middle.  You can also eat it plain, with some whipped cream or with a scoop of greek yogurt.

Enjoy!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Somebody in my house turned 26 recently and a party was in order.  We invited our friends over for drinks and snacks before heading out to the bars in Uptown.  I knew that cupcakes or cake were a must.  However, I also wanted something that wasn't too messy or too fussy so people could easy grab and eat while chatting.  I settled on these ice cream cone cupcakes which are my friend Kelly's specialty.  They were quite the hit!  I was surprised by the number of people at the party who had never had these before.  


Here is the recipe I used.  It can also be found on the side of many cake cone boxes.


Ingredients:
1 box of funfetti cake mix (or your mix of choice)
1 box of cake cones
Frosting of your choice (either the store bought or recipe below)


Directions:
- Follow the recipe on the cake mix box
- Place 12 cake cones in a muffin tin
- Fill each cone 3/4 full with cake mix
- Bake at 350 for 18-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
- Immediately take baked cupcakes out of the muffin tin and place them on a cooling rack. This prevents   the cones from getting soggy
- Repeat the filling/baking process until all your cake mix has been used


Frosting
- Once cupcakes are completely cool it is time to frost them
- If you bought store bought just spread it on ;)

Or

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
1 package of Philly cream cheese (low fat is fine), room temperature
2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

-With an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

- Add the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness and thickness.

- Either spread on with a blunt knife or spatula, or spoon into a piping bag to decorate your cupcake

Place cones in muffin tin cups and fill 3/4 full

Bake at 350 for 18-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean

Once cupcakes are completely cool, frost, decorate, and place animal print candle in the center.    Now, sing happy birthday and celebrate!

Some Many Recipes, So Little Time

I may have a food blog addiction.  I am currently following over 20 different food bloggers on a daily basis.  Logging into my Google Reader and getting the daily rundown is now part of my routine.  I follow bloggers that write about everything from clean eating (Gracious Pantry) to baking (Brown Eyed Bakers) to vegan (Engine 2 Diet) to breads (Wild Yeast) and a little bit of everything in between.   When I see a recipe I want to try I will copy the URL into an email and then email it to myself.   Recently, I discovered that I had a large number of recipe emails.  So, here is a list of Summer recipes you should give a try:

Smitten Kitchen: Tzatziki Potato Salad: a new twist on a summer classic.

Mississippi Kitchen: Layers of Love Torte: a calorie BOMB but I sent this to my brother because it looked like something he would devour and still stay incredibly skinny (I hate him for this).

Annie's Eats: Mexican Lasagna: a little odd to mix mexican and italian but I sent this to my friend CT.  It totally looked like something she would enjoy.

Brown Eyed Baker: Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars: I will make these.  Yum!

Let me know if you give any of these a try.  I'd love to hear how the recipe turns out for you.

Butterscotch Blondies

Here is an excellent recipe for Blondies.  We originally came across this on one of my favorite blogs, Annie Eats.  She uses the recipe to make a decadent two layered cake with butterscotch AND chocolate ganache poured over it.  It looks delicious but a little rich for my taste so I made a few adaption.


Here is the recipe for Butterscotch Blondies adapted from Annie Eats:

Butterscotch Blondies

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 (11 oz.) package butterscotch chips, divided

NOTE: you can really use whatever kind of chips you want with this recipe.  It would be delicious with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, m&ms, white chocolate chips, dried fruit, etc.  I just used butterscotch because my Mother gave up chocolate for lent.

For the butterscotch ganache (Optional):
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
6 tbsp. heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp. unsalted butter

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a 9X13 glass brownie pan. 

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla.  Beat on medium speed until creamy.  Scrape down the bowl and mix in the eggs until well incorporated.  Gradually beat in the flour mixture on low speed just until combined.  

 Stir in 1 cup of butterscotch chips with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter into your pan.  Sprinkle the top with some remaining butterscotch chips.

 Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool.

To make the butterscotch ganache, combine the cream and the butter in a small saucepan.  Warm over medium-high heat until the mixture is almost boiling.  Place the butterscotch chips in a small, heatproof bowl.  Pour the cream mixture over the butterscotch chips and allow to sit for 30 seconds.  Stir until smooth.

Then, I simply cut a blondie and poured the ganache over to serve.  It was really, really good!
 

  

Salted Caramel Banana Pudding Pie

Last Thanksgiving I volunteered to make the pies for dessert and put in a good amount of research trying to decide on a delicious, unique and crowd-pleasing selection.  I found this recipe on FoodNetwork.com and thought it sounded, as my friend Clare would say, "Slap your Mama good!"

However, either I did not wait for the pie crust to cool completely or at some point the pie got too warm because when I went to serve this "pie" to my family it was a lot more like soup than pie.  Everyone still licked their plates clean but we had to switch from forks to spoons to make that happen.  So, my advice, don't rush it!

A couple other notes: I did not try to make homemade caramel.  I just bought some high quality caramel from the store.  I also did not use Fluer De Sel.  Apparently, that is just expensive salt.  I used coarse ground sea salt instead. Lastly, I bought mini nilla wafers to serve on top of each slice as a little extra treat.

Ingredients

• 1 box vanilla wafers (60 to 65 cookies)
• 3/4 stick butter, melted
• 3 large ripe bananas
• 1 teaspoon fleur de sel
• 1 cup homemade caramel, recipe follows, or 1 cup prepared caramel
• Vanilla Pudding, warm, recipe follows
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the vanilla wafers in a food processor and pulse until the cookies are finely crushed. Reserve 1/2 cup to layer in and to top the pie. Pour the remaining crumbs in a 9-inch pie plate. Pour the meltedbutter over the top and, using a spoon or your hands, combine the ingredients. Press the mixture in the bottom and up the sides and onto the lip of the pie plate. Bake until lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Peel and slice the bananas, adding them to a bowl. Stir the salt into the caramel sauce and toss the banana slices with the salted caramel. Arrange some banana slices evenly over the bottom of the crust. Spread half of the warm Vanilla Pudding over the bananas, top with some more crushed vanilla wafers (reserving some for garnish) and more caramel-coated bananas. Spread the remaining Vanilla Pudding over the top.

In a large bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Add the almond extract and sugar and beat until peaks form. Make sure not to overbeat, or the cream will become lumpy and butter-like. Spread the whipped cream over the pie. Just before serving, garnish with a caramel swirl and the rest of the crushed vanilla wafers.

Caramel Sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream

Combine the sugar and 1/3 cup water in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. This is the only time you can stir the sugar. If you stir it while it's cooking, it turns to rock candy. Place the saucepan over medium to low heat until the sugars start to dissolve, 5 to 10 minutes. Then turn the heat up to medium-high and cook until the sugar starts to caramelize, 5 to 7 minutes. Do not stir while this is happening. You've got to watch the pot, because it goes from caramel to burnt really quickly. And be careful, the mixture is extremely hot!

Turn off the heat and stand back to avoid splattering. Slowly add the cream. Don't panic - the cream will bubble violently, and the caramel will solidify. Just give it more time to liquefy again-trust me!

Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits. Yield: 3 cups.

Vanilla Pudding:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups milk, divided
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a bowl, whisk together the sugar and flour until all of the lumps are gone. Once it is a fine powder, whisk in the egg yolks and whole eggs and continue whisking until a smooth paste is formed. Slowly whisk in 1 cup milk, and once this is incorporated add the remaining 1 cup milk. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it reaches the thickness of chilledpudding, 10 to 15 minutes. (Mixture will just begin to bubble and will be thick enough to hold soft peaks when the whisk is lifted.) Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

A Night with Nancy

I had a request from a dear, old friend to prepare a menu for a dinner party she is hosting. Her guests will be her co-workers which is always a little tricky.  I feel, when guests are not your very close friends or family, that the menu should be make ahead or simple to prepare so that you can still entertain and not spend the entire evening stuck in the kitchen, away from the crowd.

Here is my proposed menu and the associated inspirations:

Main Course: Crab Cakes (she lives in DC with easy access to Maryland Crab)
I suggest Ellie Krieger's crab cake recipe found here: Crab Cakes

Notes: Nancy, I added an extra egg (I actually used egg beaters) and I made the batter ahead of time and let it chill covered in the refrigerator for about an hour.  Then, I took out the batter and formed the patties, paced them on a baking sheet, covered with plastic wrap and then put them back into the fridge until I was ready to make the main course.  I cooked them for about 10 minutes on each side and broiled them for the last minute to just get a really good toast on them.  I made the Smarter Tartar sauce in the morning and just let it chill in the fridge all day.  I would suggest serving this with a little hot sauce on the side.


Side 1: Mixed green salad with a citrus vinaigrette.  Meyer lemons are in season and this would be a great accompaniment to the crab cakes.  I suggest this recipe I saw on Cookistry: Meyer Lemon Salad

Side 2: Chili roasted cauliflower.  I first had this at my new favorite pizza place in Minneapolis- Pizzeria Lola  They make their version in a gorgeous woodfire oven.  You can replicate it at home by cranking up the oven to 500*.  Roasted vegetables are so simple but somehow so impressive.  I also must add that roasted cauliflower taste like a totally different food than just raw cauliflower.

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:

1 medium head of cauliflower cut into 1 ½-inch florets

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

2 t lemon juice

2 t of diced Calabrian chilis or 2 TBSP Chili Powder

flat leaf parsley for garnish

lemon zest

salt and pepper to taste

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place the cauliflower florets in a large roasting pan (a baking sheet works, too). Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Stir florets occasionally to ensure an even roast. Remove from oven and toss with lemon juice and chilis. Garnish with lemon zest and chopped parsley. Serve immediately.

Dessert: Fruit Tart.  Inspired by one of St. Paul, MN great treasures, Cafe Latte.  This dessert is a simple, delicious, make-ahead treat.  Since it involves just a little cooking and mostly assembly it is my go-to for dinner parties.

Cafe Latte's Fruit Tart- I try my best to make my dessert look like this..

Fruit Tart

Crust:  
1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust.  Let crust  sit out 15-20 minutes, then unfold and place on cookie sheet or pie pan.  Crimp edges a bit if desired.  Prick crust with fork.  Bake at 450 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until light golden brown.  Cool 20 minutes or until completely cooled.  Transfer gently to serving plate.  

Filling:  
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp. grated orange peel or lemon zest

Beat filling ingredients until smooth.  Stir in 1/2 cup sliced strawberries.  Spread mixture over crust to within ½ inch of the edges.  Arrange fresh fruit in a pattern over the cream cheese mixture:  kiwi fruit, strawberry halves, peach slices (dipped in lemon juice to prevent browning), blueberries and/or raspberries.

Brush fruit with melted apricot preserves.  

Notes: If you were my Mother, you would serve this dessert with decaf coffee. And if you were my roommate, JQ, you would serve the decaf coffee with Bailey's Irish Cream..

Hope you have a great dinner party Nancy. Call me with questions!