Sisters and Shopping

I haven't done much baking lately which means I haven't updated my blog. I do have lots of candy to make before Christmas, so that will change very soon. My daughter was scolding me for neglecting my blog, so I guess I better update. Terrible when your daughter is doing the scolding. :)

I got most of my Christmas decorations up the weekend after Thanksgiving. My friend Beth gave me the idea of putting up Christmas balls in the windows of our new room. So, here's a pic of that. I am really happy with how it turned out.

My sisters and I have a long tradition of taking off work and going Christmas shopping one day in December. I really can't remember a time when we didn't do this. When I was younger I sometimes got to stay out of school to go along. It used to be us and mom, and we've continued the tradition...I'm pretty sure Mama is pleased. We have so much fun when we are all together! I'm truly blessed to have 3 sisters that are so much fun. About 3 years ago we bought these red plaid roll-around shopping bags at Macy's. Every year, we pull them out and take them with us. You should see the looks we get! Hilarious. They are so handy I don't know why we are the only ones with them. Here's a pic of us before we left the house last Friday. We left my house at 9am and got back around 10 pm. What a blast! I don't know what hurt the most when I got home....my legs from walking or my insides from laughing!

The Crazy Tyson Girls - Gayle (aka Bebie), Wilma, Kathy and me.

So, my darling daughter...how's that?

1/2 Point Brownies

Amy suggested I find out how to make low point (Weight Watchers) desserts. That's a really good idea...I like to cook and I'd like to stay on my diet. I've been finding it hard lately to stick to the diet...the sweet tooth is back with a vengeance! I found this recipe on the web and decided to try it out. They are cooked in a small muffin tin...which makes portioning easier. The ingredients are a bit strange...you'll see. They are actually good...very fudgy. I gave one to my husband (without telling him what was in them) and he gave them a thumbs up! Of course, I did put a dab of buttercream icing on his....so it wasn't a perfect test. I liked them....I thought I detected a bit of an aftertaste of the ingredient...but that could have been my imagination. I put a dab of fat free cool whip on mine. They satisfied the sweet craving I had and I didn't have to feel guilty afterward. Nice! I'll definitely make them again. I'm going to share them with some friends that are doing WW and see what they think.

1/2 Point Brownies

• 1 Box Betty Crocker Brownie mix (I don't really know if it has to be Betty Crocker, but that's what the recipe said)
• 1 can Black Beans - SURPRISE!!!!

Preheat oven to 325.

Puree the black beans (undrained) in a food processor or blender.

Add the brownie mix and mix until smooth.

Put batter in small cupcake pan and cook for about 15-20 minutes.

The recipe said it made 36 brownies, but I got 48...I'm really not sure why.

Black Forest Cupcakes and Leaf Sugar Cookies

Our Thanksgiving lunch at work is today. I had several things to make for people, so I needed something easy to take for the lunch. Black Forest cupcakes to the rescue! These are easy, pretty and very good. I just make the chocolate cupcakes and let cool. Then I cut out the center using the cone technique, saving the caps. Fill with cherry pie filling (canned). Put the cap back on. Pipe vanilla buttercream icing on them and top with a drained cherry. Voila! Easy as cherry pie...sorry, I couldn't help it. ;)

A friend asked me to make sugar cookies for her family Thanksgiving. They are going to the mountains for Thanksgiving and sugar cookies definitely travel well. I made leaf and acorn cookies (using Wilton's nesting cookie cutters). I iced them with royal icing. For the acorns, I added cocoa powder to the icing to make it brown. I like this better than adding brown coloring. If you do this, you'll need to add more water. I thought these turned out very cute. And a million thanks goes to Jessi...she actually did the acorn cookies.

Truly, to be fair I'd have to send a million thanks to Frank also. He washed the dishes and cleaned up after me...I had a royal mess going on. Frank and Jessi stayed up til 2 am helping me. Last night I made Wuthering Heights cupcakes, Black Forest cupcakes, sugar cookies and 2 batches of cinnamon rolls...so you can see why I needed help! A great time was had by all. Well, by me anyway.

New Hobby Ideas...

I think I have to find a new hobby. I used to be able to bake and not eat any of it. Now....I can't seem to resist. This is not good for my weight! So, I need a hobby that doesn't involve me eating the result! Any ideas?

Jewish Apple Cake

Blake's parents went to Ellijay and brought home apples. They generously sent us a bag. Obviously this was a sign that I needed to make an apple cake. :) The one I made on Saturday was ok, but not great. It was a cinnamony cake with apples in it. Tonight I made a Jewish Apple cake. This is closer to a vanilla cake that uses orange juice instead of milk and the apples are layered in the batter. This cake is really good. It tastes like apple pie in a cake. And the smell in the house was incredible! I'm not exactly sure why it is called "Jewish Apple Cake". As far as that goes, why is my mom's Japanese Fruit Cake "Japanese"? Hmmm.....

Jewish Apple Cake

2 3/4 cups flour

1 tablepoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup orange juice

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

5-6 apples - peeled, cored, and chopped

1 tablespoon cinnamon

5 tablspoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 10" tube pan (I spray mine with Bakers Joy). Mix cinnamon and sugar. Toss apples with the cinnamon sugar mixture and set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix oil, applesauce, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients. Add eggs, one at a time.

Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Arrange half the apples in a layer over the batter. Pour the rest of the batter into the pan to cover the apples. Arrange remaining apples on top.

Bake for about 1 1/2 hours. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean. Let cake cool in the pan. To loosen cake from pan, run a knife around the edge. Invert cake onto a plate. Invert again onto serving dish. This gets it topside up. Dust with powdered sugar.

Treats for a Fish Fry

I think all I did this weekend was cook. Whenever the kids are coming I like to have things for them to take home. Sourdough rolls, banana nut bread, turkey...yep, that's right turkey and fixins! (Thanks to Amy, I realized turkey isn't just for the holidays). It was a surprise to everybody that came for supper Saturday night. We decided that it was stomach training for the upcoming holiday/eating season - you know...a stretching exercises. Jessi and Blake were here for the weekend; Tyson and Kimberly came for dinner as did Mary and Alberto. Oh what fun to have the house full like that again!

Where was I...oh yes, back to what I cooked this weekend. Well, we are having a fish fry at work on Monday and I offered to bring something. JR said bring dessert. Hmm, what goes with a fish fry...well cupcakes of course! Beth wants something lemony, Derek wants banana cream, and CJ wants sugar cookies.

I made Paula Deen's banana cream cake as cupcakes, iced them with buttercream frosting and then Jessi put blue sprinkles and the little fish on them. Home from college to help me make fish cupcakes...man I miss her!

For Beth's lemony treat, I made lemon curd. I had never made lemon curd before, but it turned out great. I put this in vanilla cupcakes (Magnolia Bakery's recipe). They were also iced with blue buttercream and blue sprinkles with fish on top. These are really good! I debated on making a lemon flavored cupcake to fill...but the vanilla cake with the lemon filling is really just the right blend of sweet and tart. These cupcakes need a name though. Any suggestions?

The last thing I made was fish sugar cookies. I had planned to put these on top of the lemon cupcakes, but the only fish cookie cutter I found was too big for the cupcakes. So, I just decorated them and put them on a platter.


RECIPES

Paula Deen's Banana Cream Cake (as made for cupcakes - makes about 24 cupcakes)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (~4-5)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp bakng powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp buttermild
1 (3.4 oz) box banana cream instant pudding mix
2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350.
* In large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat at med speed until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, betaing well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
* In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (I just sift together). Add to butter mixutre alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. fold in bananas. Pour batter into paper lined muffin tin. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
* Once cupcakes are completely cool, make a hole in the center for the pudding. I used a melon baller. Prepare the pudding with the milk. Fill the holes with the pudding. I fill a freezer bag with the pudding and then cut a small hole in the corner to fill the cupcakes. Ice and decorate.

Lemon Curd - from Fine Cooking
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest

* In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, about 2 minutes. slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 minute. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.
* In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter melts.) Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture thickes, about 15 minutes. It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170 F on a thermometer. Very important to stir constantly. You don't want it to boil or to burn on the bottom.
* Remove from heat; stir in lemon zest. Transfer to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface to keep a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator. It will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.

NOTE: It says you can substitute fresh lime juice and zest for the lemon to make lime curd.

Wuthering Heights Cupcakes

Ever since I saw these cupcakes on IHeartCuppycakes I've been wanting to make them. They are chocolate cake with condensed milk and caramel drizzled inside, heath bars crushed on top, and then iced. The original recipe called for a whipped cream icing, but I was afraid that would melt on my way to work, so I iced them with a buttercream icing. Unfortunately, I got my icing too thin...so they aren't as pretty as I had hoped.

Now for the name. In the blog where I read about them, they were called Hankie Pankie cupcakes, elsewhere they are called Better Than Sex cupcakes. When I mentioned making them the other day, I called them Better Than Whoopie cupcakes. Well, a coworker (I'm not naming names) was trying to figure out what Whoopie Goldberg had to do with cupcakes. You just can't make that stuff up! I really couldn't see calling them the first 2 names at work and I certainly didn't want to confuse anybody else...so a new name was needed. Maybe its a stretch...but Heath bars....Heathcliff....get it...this is why I'm not in marketing. :)

These are good...but I already know what I'll do different next time. They just weren't over the top. I'm thinking....pudding.

Like Mother, Like Daughter...maybe a little anyway

Jessi sent me this picture. This past weekend she made German Chocolate cupcakes for a friend's birthday in Athens. She made chocolate cupcakes and then frosted them with homemade German chocolate frosting. Don't they look delicious? She said everybody loved them. I'm so proud :).

Black Walnut Harvesting

We have lots of black walnut trees in our yard. This year, we decided to see how hard it is to get the nutmeat out. I now understand why black walnuts are so expensive, this is not like harvesting the pecans we have...much more work!

Frank raked up little mounds of walnuts all over the yard. To remove the husk we applied pressure with our foot to split it and then used our gloved hands to remove the shell. You have to wear gloves and shoes/clothes that you don't mind ruining because they stain something fierce!

Once the husk was removed we put them in a cart and hosed them down. This is to remove the husk residue before it contaminates the walnut meat.

See the stain that comes off. I have some of that on my fingers...yuck!

Now, we let them dry/cure. Once dry we will try shelling them. Black walnuts have very hard shells, so that won't be easy. We only did a few, to test this out before we do all of them.

Have you done this before? Do you have any tips for us? I'd love to hear them. I really want this to work...I love to use walnuts in my baking.

Just Realized I Was Tagged!

I just realized today that I was tagged by Amy back on the 20th. So, here's my 4th picture from my 4th folder. It's almost exactly a year old. Last year, in October, my 3 sisters and I went to the North Ga mountains for a weekend. We road the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway...did some shopping (antiques and apples)...got lost....went to the Apple Festival in Ellijay....and just generally cut up like only sisters can do. :) It was soooo much fun being together like that!

S'more Cupcakes with Homemade Marshmallows

Another great way to celebrate fall with cupcakes....S'more cupcakes! I do have to confess on these though....I took some shortcuts....but in my defense, it was a weeknight and fairly late when I started. ;)

Anyway, the first thing I did was make the homemade marshmallows since they need to set for a bit. I got the recipe from IHeartCuppycakes (don't you just love that name). I used vanilla extract instead of vanilla bean.

Once the marshmallows were set, I made graham cracker cake cupcakes. The recipe only makes about 18 cupcakes, so instead of doubling it I made the rest from a chocolate cake mix (shortcut # 1).

While the cupcakes were still hot, I cut a cone out of them and put one of the marshmallows in the hole, then replaced the cap.

After they were completely cooled, I frosted them with bought fudge chocolate frosting (shortcut # 2). I put sprinkled graham cracker crumbs on the cupcakes made with graham cracker cake. In the chocolate cake ones, I inserted a piece of graham cracker into the side.

Frank, Cupcake Tester Extraordinaire, gave it the big thumbs up! (At least the chocolate based ones....he hasn't tried the graham cake ones yet.)

The homemade marshmallows were really easy to make....much easier than I had expected....but they are really sticky!

Graham Cracker Cake (from Back of the Box Recipes)
20 squares graham crackers, finely rolled (about 1 1/2 cups of crumbs)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened (I always use butter)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk

1. Blend cracker crumbs, flour and baking powder in small bowl; set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
3. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beating well after each addition. Divide batter into pans. (2 8-inch round cake pans or 18 cupcakes).
4. Bake at 350 for: 15-18 minutes for cupcakes; 25 minutes for cake layers.

Apple Pie Cupcakes

There's a nip in the air....feeling more like fall everyday. That just makes me want to bake (any excuse works for me). I've been thinking about apple pie cupcakes for some time and today just seemed like the perfect day. I was tossed between butter cake, spice cake, or apple cake for the cupcake part. I finally settled on butter cake. My reasoning was that apple pie doesn't have apples in the crust...so my cupcake shouldn't have apples in the cake ;)...but I'm pretty sure any of those options would have been good. I'm a fan of filled cupcakes...its like finding money in that coat you haven't worn in a year....a nice surprise. So, these have a hollowed out center filled with the apple filling and then iced with a cinnamon buttercream frosting.

These were a hit at my house. They turned out as good as I had imagined. If you are an apple pie fan and a cake fan....I suggest you try these out.

Butter cake - makes about 32 cupcakes

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

4 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp almond flavoring

1 cup of milk and half-and-half (1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup half-and-half)

1 large box vanilla instant pudding

Heat oven to 350 and line muffin tin with cupcake papers. Set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla and almond flavoring.

Add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture (start and end with flour).

Add pudding.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes.

While cupcakes are baking...you can start the apple filling.

Apple Filling:

6 tbsp butter

6 Granny Smith apples - peeled and cut into small pieces

1/3 cup plus 2 1/2 tbsp sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4-1/2 tsp nutmeg (to your preference)

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 - 1 1/2 tbsp flour

Cook the first 7 ingredients in a skillet until the apples are soft, but not mushy. Add the flour to thicken. Let cool.

When the cupcakes are cool, cut a hole in the top. I used a knife and cut a cone shape out, then used a melon baller to make the hole larger. Fill the holes with the apple filling. You can save the part you cut out for another use...I'll make a trifle with mine.

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

2 cups unsalted butter, softened

8 cups sifted powdered sugar

2 tbsp vanilla

half and half

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and powdered sugar. Add vanilla and cinnamon. I piped the frosting on to look similar to a lattice topped pie. You can see the filling through the lattice...just like an apple pie!

Cookies in the Mail

Here they are Jessaroo!!! Your dad is mailing them to you today. I hope ya'll enjoy them. Happy Tailgating!!!!

Love, Mom

GO DAWGS!!!!!

Football Cookies

Today I made football sugar cookies. They are iced with royal icing made out of meringue powder. These are my husband's favorite cookies. My nephew David is a football coach and he loves them too....but being an Auburn fan he won't like how I've displayed them. :)

Go Dawgs!

My Grandmother's Rocking Chair

Have you ever had a project that seemed to take forever to finish? Well, let me tell you about mine. Twenty-one years ago, that's right - 21 years ago, my mother gave me a rocking chair that had belonged to my dad's mother. I know it was 21 years ago because my daughter was a baby and I needed a rocking chair. The chair was already old and not very stable. So, I got the bright idea that I would refinish it. I stripped it, I took it apart, and then I...STOPPED! I never refinished it or put it back together. We have moved this chair (in pieces) many times and to multiple states. Every time my husband saw it, he would say "Would you please just throw it away!". I certainly would not! I've held onto those pieces this long, why would I give up now?

This weekend we decided to do some much needed cleaning out. As part of this, we had some things to move that I couldn't help lift. We called Tyson and he said he'd come Saturday morning to help. Well, one thing led to another and Tyson said he'd help me get the chair finished. He is very good with wood and has some expertise in refinishing. I was overjoyed. Frank, darling hubby, was of course skeptical. Anyway, this project isn't finished but the chair is already in fewer pieces! I am so excited about doing this. The picture is Tyson working on it. It took some time for him to figure out exactly how it went together...especially since he was about one when I took it apart.

I have another chair.....my mother's mother's rocking chair. This one had broken rockers and my mom had gotten someone to make new ones. Tyson looked at it and said I'd be better off if he made me some, since those were not done very well. So, that will be our next project. (At least I haven't had this one as long as the other.)

The Bars that Weren't

Ahhh...cooking mishaps....I guess they have to happen....right?

We had family coming over today and I asked Frank to pick out a cake he'd like...I wanted to try something new. Well, he picked out Paula Deen's Dreamy Chocolate Mousse Cake. What a cake! 6 layers of cake, chocolate mousse in between, then iced with an incredible chocolate icing. This cake is chocolate heaven! My cake didn't turn out as pretty as Paula's (of course)....but it was yummy!!! I encourage all you chocolate lovers out there to try this one, the mousse would be a delicious dessert by itself. I will definitely make this again....and hopefully it will be prettier the next time.

Oh yes, the mishap....let's call it the Bars that Weren't. It occurred to me that since several of my family members are diabetic, I should make a diabetic friendly dessert. Sounds like a nice idea right? So, at the last minute I start searching the web for diabetic desserts. Applesauce Spice Bars....that sounds lovely and I had all the incredients. I quickly whip them up and put them in the oven. Then, in comes our baby (21 year old senior at UGA for those that don't know me). She and her boyfriend are here for the day.

Baby: Mmmm, they smell really good, like Christmas

Me: I know, but its really strange that they didn't call for flour...yikes!!!!!

Yes, you guessed it! At the same time that I'm saying flour....I see 2 cups of flour in the ingredients list! How could I have missed it! The bars were....well, they weren't bars and they weren't very yummy! Oh well, I do have grapes. :)

(I will be trying these again...and next time I'll remember the flour.)

After all went home, it was time to do the cinnamon rolls for work tomorrow. I make my cinnamon rolls out of sourdough. My sourdough starter, Bob the Blob, has been in my possession since February. He makes some great bread! Anyway, I made my dough this morning and it rose all day. So, tonight I just have to make the rolls and let them rise all night. I'll cook them in the morning and take them into work still hot.

To make the rolls, I mix the same dough up as I would if I were making bread. I divide into thirds. Roll each third out into a rectangle and spread with butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, raisins and walnuts. Roll up into a log and slice. I made some cream cheese icing to top these with after they cook. Here they are, ready to rise:

And just for kicks, here's a picture of Frank, Blake (aforementioned boyfriend), and Jessi (aforementioned baby).

Too bad we didn't see our son this weekend....Tyson, are you reading this? :)

Coconut Cupcakes with Seven Minute Frosting

Today I asked Frank what ideas he had for a cupcake. True to form, he suggested coconut cupcakes...he LOVES coconut cake! So, tonight I gave it a whirl. I even made him a small layered coconut cake.

I used my mom's 1-2-3-4 cake recipe, but I added a box of vanilla pudding to the batter. Instead of the sugar water mixture that we usually pour on the layers, I used condensed milk with a little coconut flavoring. Mmmm, any excuse to use condensed milk :).

1-2-3-4 Cake

1 cup shortening (I used butter flavored for this cake)

2 cups sugar

3 cups self-rising flour, sifted

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 small box vanilla pudding (not part of original 1-2-3-4 recipe)

Additional Needs - will be needed later

Coconut

Can condensed milk

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time. Stir in flour alternately with milk (start and end with flour). Add vanilla. Add pudding mix. Put batter in pans and cook at 350 for ~20 minutes.

I got 3 - 4" cake layers and 24 cupcakes from this.

Once the cupcakes were cool, I poked holes in the tops with a fork and sprinkled coconut over the holes. I added 1/4 tsp coconut flavoring to a can of condensed milk, then microwaved it for 30 seconds. This was spooned over the coconut, seeping in the holes.

Seven Minute Frosting

2 egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

5 tbsp water

2tsp karo syrup (light corn syrup)

Put all ingredients in the top of a double boiler. Beat with a mixer while heating. Make sure you don't get any water from the bottom part in your frosting. It's done when it will hold peaks. For the first time, I pulled egg whites from the freezer to make this frosting. They were left over from a German Chocolate cake and I had frozen them. I was a little nervous about it, but they did just fine.

I iced the cupcakes and then dipped them in the coconut.

Frank tried one tonight and gave it a thumbs up. We'll see how my co-workers like them tomorrow. One thing, they are messy!

Hello and Pink Carrots

Hi there! Welcome to my blog. I'm new to blog writing...but not blog reading! Who knew it would be so hard? I work in a tech world, but I love to bake....cookies, cakes, cupcakes, bread, etc. There's just the two of us at home...I'm usually dieting...and well...even Frank has his sugar limits! So the sweets usually end up at my office.

A co-worker of mine participates in the Breast Cancer 3-Day in Atlanta. The picture is one of the cupcakes I took to work to sell as a fundraiser for her. Carrot cake with cream cheese icing! Don't you love the pink carrot on top? I substitute applesauce for 1/2 of the oil in the recipe...making it healthier?....definitely making it moister.