Snickerdoodle Bundt cake

Snickerdoodle bundt cake! Whomever would have thunk it? Well, this gal did here!

When I was googling new recipes I came across this idea and figured I would give it a go!

A, my 10 year old absolutely adores this cake! I gave a 1/4th of it away to share with a friend and when he found out, he almost had a grand mal seizure! This is a two thumbs up in his opinion! In fact, everytime I would plate a piece for picture I would grab my camera or my card on two seperate occassions and the piece would be gone!!

I just know he will love the snickerdoodle cookie recipe that my daughter brought home from church! I'm not a huge fan of cinnamon so I don't bake much with it but since A is I will be looking for more goodies with cinnamon.
I did add 1/2 tsp more cinnamon then called for because in my opinion cinnamon can sometimes get lost in a recipe. It was a good call.
I had a few apprehensions while baking and once the cake was done but all was well. I was careful to grease well my pan and then coat it with the sugar mixture. This is key to giving the cake a nice crust. I feared it may be too crunchy with all the sugar. I would also take note while adding the cinnamon sugar mixture to the cake to pour the sugar as close to the middle as possible. Mine baked closer to 70 minutes. It could be my oven. But, once complete. The knife slices through it beautifully and the inside is so moist and wonderful. So, put aside your fears.

WHAT makes this cake so incredible? It has a beautiful slightly crunchy crust and a very moist dense texture. Your tongue just sings and sends these incredible messages to your brain that says, "FEED ME MORE". I think the crust is what defines this cake as being a sugardoodle. My son, also specifically asked, "Mom, how do you get the cinnamon in the middle?" the sweet band of cinnamon that swirls through the middle is divine. Serve it up for breakfast, brunch or dessert. It is perfect for any occassion and at any time.

SNICKERDOODLE BUNDT CAKE... my notes in boldA printable version can be found here.ingredients
Yield 10 servings, Time 25 minutes prep, 60 minutes to bake
Ingredients
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I added another 1/2 tsp)1 cup white sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt (I used regular salt)1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature

Method
In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Mix together really well and Preheat oven to 325F. Here’s the exact way Julie made the crust: Using a spray product like Pam with Flour, generously spray a 9 inch Bundt pan, being careful to cover all the nooks and crannies, as well as the center tube. (Note: If you don’t want to use Pam with Flour, you can just grease the pan with shortening.) Gently dust the entire inside of the pan with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. You should only need about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar, but you want to try and evenly coat the inside surface of the pan, including the tube. Save the remaining sugar and cinnamon mixture and set everything aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Beat just the butter on medium speed for one full minute. Add the white sugar and mix for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and blade and add the brown sugar.

Mix for 2 minutes until the mixture looks light brown and uniform in color. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each for 1 full minute. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream; beat well.

Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture over top the cake. Spread the rest of the batter into the pan and sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over the top. (If you run out of cinnamon sugar, you can mix just 1/4 cup of sugar + 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon together for the top of the cake. It should be more than enough.)

Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. aside.

This will leave your house smelling delicious!

Homemade pistachio ice cream

Home made Pistachio Ice Cream
This is among the favorites in our household. I believe the Mr. still enjoys his old and true plain vanilla ice cream but he pampers us by making pistachio and it is most decadent and divine!

Ingredients for Pistachio Ice Cream
1 can condensed
1 can evaporated
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 small pkgs of pistachio pudding
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 TBL spoon vanilla extract
Add WHOLE MILK to ice cream churn to top off to line.

1 large bag of ice
1/2 box of rock salt

Our ice cream churn comes with directions on how to use. But the basic ice cream recipe is as listed as above. It is rich it is decadent and I LOVE it best the day after! It gets very creamy and dense. Good luck having it last the day after.


Our churn then requires you to pour ice around the cannister and put rock salt on top. Keep checking your ice maker and adding ice so that it stays near the top of the cannister and then rock salt again. Repeat as necessary. Until ice maker stops churning. You can immediately turn out and place in storage containers or serve. If you would like your ice cream more firm wait a few minutes and the ice cream will harden as it sits.

Fruit Pizza

I just love fruit and fresh fruit is always a tell tale sign to me that spring and good things are just around the corner! I keep thinking if I load my fridge with fresh veggies and fruits that it will bring out the warm weather! So far, it hasn't worked.

Nothing like a refreshing dessert. Fruit pizza has a sweet tender dough. A sugar cookie dough, topped with a smoothe cream cheese tart frosting and the brightness of any fruit you so desire to top. You can bake this on a pizza round or in a 9x13 pan. I also prefer to have my dough a bit on the thicker side, 'cuz you know; that's how I roll but please feel free to make it anyway your little heart desires.

This dessert was made for our March Birthday celebration and it is always a crowd pleaser. Ann Trujillo made this dessert! Gotta love it!

The recipe is from Allrecipes. And also adapted from two peas and their pod

FRUIT PIZZA

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Frosting:
1 package cream cheese, softened (8 oz.)
2 T sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 T. fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon

Fruit:Strawberries
Blueberries
Peaches
Kiwi

CRUST
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a pizza pan with cooking spray or a 9x13 pan. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 2/3 cup sugar until smooth.
3. Mix in egg, vanilla, and lemon zest.
4. Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt;
5. Stir into the creamed mixture until just blended.
6. Press dough into pizza pan.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool.
8. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugars, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
9. Spread on the cooled pizza crust.
10. Arrange fruit on top of the pizza. Chill until serving time.

Ann Trujillo's Cranberry Cake

What can I say? I have good friends who have good taste buds! Ann also likes recipes from Taste of Home and she recently brought this tart but sweet little number to a luncheon that we had! Holy Deliciousness!

This cake, is more like a bread! It is moist, it has craters of air pockets which lends it to be very airy and light! The cranberries make this not too sweet and just the perfect blend of goodness. It is the perfect treat to bring to a brunch or luncheon!

If you find that you need a little extra yumm to the dish, please add a dollup of fresh whipped topping and then sit back and swoon!

The original Recipe and credit goes to. Marilyn Paradis from Woodburn, Oregon.
Taste of Home
Yields- 15/20 servings
Prep time 15 min. Bake time 45 min

Ingredients
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed
2/3 cup chopped pecans
Whipped cream, optional

DirectionsIn a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until slightly thickened and lemon-colored, about 5 minutes.
Add butter and extract; beat 2 minutes.
Gradually stir in flour just until combined.
Stir in cranberries and pecans. Spread in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.

Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve with whipped cream if desired. Yield: 16-20 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 piece) equals 229 calories, 11 g fat (5 g saturated fat), 50 mg cholesterol, 79 mg sodium, 32 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 3 g protein.

Cranberry Cake published in Taste of Home October/November 1996, p37

Linda T's Butterscotch Pecan Dessert

I went to a church event and this little beauty was beckoning my name. Normally, I am not a fan of butterscotch at all, but I thought I would live dangerously and give it a try! I am so glad I did, because it is definitely blog worthy, aka my taste buds approved!
I believe the original recipe comes from Taste of Home and was submitted by Becky Harrison in Albion, Illinois! But, for my purposes I will always remember this as Linda T's recipe! You will notice in the pictures you will see red sprinkles.  They were added just because she had a wild hair!
Can I make you fall in love with a dessert that doesn't have chocolate??

Butterscotch Pecan Dessert

1/2 cup cold butter
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup chopped pecans divided
1 package (8oz) softened cream cheese
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 carton (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
3-1/2 cups milk
2 packages (3.4 or 3.5 oz each) instant butterscotch or vanilla pudding!

Preheat oven to 350

Step I.
1. In a bowl, cut the butter into the flour until crumbly.
2. Stir in 1/2 cup pecans. Press into an ungreased 13x9x2 inch baking pan.
3. Bake in pan at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool.

Step II.
1. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Fold in 1 cup whipped topping.
2. spread over crust.
3. Combine milk and pudding mix until smooth, in seperate bowl.
4. Pour over cream cheese layer.
5. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes or until set. Top with remaining whipped topping and pecans.
6. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours and serve!
Yield- 16-20 servings!
Give it a try! It will be so worth your time!

Fried Plantains

About 9 years ago the Mr. and I took a trip to San Juan Puerto Rico and had an amazing delicacy of food! One of my favorites was they would serve plantains in every form and fashion and in the most delicious way.
I'm going to share the easiest and quickest way. They are good and flavorful and can be sprinkled with salt, confectioners sugar or honey. (I do not recommend all three at the same time)
They are wonderfully crisp on the outside and tender and creamy on the inside! I sliced mine on the thin side so that they would be more like chips! You may also choose to use ripe yellow and brown plantains but I chose green to have more of a dried banana chip.

Fried Plantains
Place approximately 2 tablespoons of oil in a hot pan and bring it to medium-high heat, add 2-3 peeled and sliced plantains in a single layer. Allow them to soak in salted ice water in a bowl.

Allow to cook leaving for a minute or two, or until a golden crust forms on the plantain.

Flip over and fry for 2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and place on plate lined with paper towels to drain excess oil.

Lemon Chiffon Cake! ooh LaLa

The lemon chiffon cake recipe comes straight from Martha Stewart herself! Let me tell you it is light it is airy, it is beautiful it is ::Sigh:: heaven! A perfect perfect cake on a summer day or to welcome spring or for anything. I have to say, naturally I'm inclined to choose the chocolate cake but this has one my heart over!

Lemon Chiffon Cake - from Martha Stewart Living

3/4 cup cake flour

1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar, divided
3 large eggs, separated, room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp grated lemon zest (about 4 lemons)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees

1. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and 3/4 cup sugar. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the three egg yolks, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla, and water.

3.Stir in the dry ingredients.

4. In an electric mixer, beat the three egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat on high until soft peaks form, 1-2 minutes. Gradually add the tablespoon of sugar, beating on high for 3 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

5. Stir 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the batter, then use a rubber spatula to gently fold the remaining 2/3 into the batter. Pour into an ungreased 7″ tube pan and smooth the top with the spatula.

I used a 9x13 pan or you can use two 9 inch pans, I wanted my layers thin, so I could stack them.
If you choose to double the recipe use a 10 inch tube pan and bake longer.
6. Bake 45 minutes or until a skewer poked into the cake comes out clean and the top is golden.

7. Cool the cake upside down.  Let cool to room temperature, and then run a knife between cake and pan and turn out onto a plate. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Oh excuse me! I just can't put my fork down!

LEMON CURD also from Martha Stewart Living
Ingredients

8 large egg yolks

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

1 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

Directions

1.Combine yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a heavy-bottom saucepan; whisk to combine. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (be sure to scrape the sides of the pan), until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, 8 to 10 minutes, and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.

2.Remove saucepan from heat. Add salt and butter, one piece at a time, stirring until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve into a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and set, at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.
Makes 2 cups
It is really a simple recipe!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Mother Goose asked me if I could share this recipe and I was excited and flattered to do it, especially since it's about cupcakes- one of my favorite desserts.

Cupcakes are fun to eat and especially fun to make. They just look so darn scrumptious! Whenever there is a holiday or special event, I'm always thinking "what kind of cupcake can I make to fit this occasion?"

Since it was Valentine's Day, I knew that the perfect cupcake to make for V-day were Red Velvet cupcakes. I found an easy recipe from Paula Deen that did not take long to make. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (1 cup is fine too)
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring (I used only 1 tbs, but for a deeper red use 2tbs)
  
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Cook's Note: I filled the frosting into a sandwich size zip lock bag and snipped a small hole in the bottom corner of the bag. Squeeze the frosting from out of the hole and you can create big swirls of frosting on the cupcake or you can just use a butter knife. Garnish cupcakes with any type of toppings.

Enjoy!

H.K.

SMORE Cupcakes!

I have been on a kick of graham crackers and melted chocolate with marshmellows. The recipe of s'more cookie bars was good but this hit the spot completely! HOLY YUM!! The gooey marshmellow and the decadent chocolate that bursts into your mouth when bitten into along with the slightly charred taste of the seven minute frosting had my eyes rolling to the back of my head. I re-iterate, HOLY YUM!

Graham cracker cupcake batter. Batter recipe that I decided on was taken from
Vanilla Garlic.

Makes 36 cupcakes / 350 F oven
This is the recipe doubled. You may cut in half if you need less.
What You’ll Need...
1 cup of butter, room temperature
2 cup of sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
2 cup of milk
2 cup of flour
3 cups of graham cracker crumbs
2 teaspoons of baking soda
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt

What You’ll Do...
1) Beat the butter for about 30 seconds until well creamed.
Add the sugar and mix for 3 minutes using a paddle attachment until light and fluffy.
2) Add the eggs, one at a time,
being sure to beat for 30 seconds for each egg.
3) Place graham crackers in a food processor or in a plastic bag and crush into small crumbs and powder. (We put them in a blender)
4) Sift together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda and powder, and salt. Add about 1/4 of the mixture to the butter mixture, then add some of the milk. Continue to add the ingrdients in a dry-wet-dry method, ending with the dry. Continue to mix until just combined.
5) Scoop into cupcake papers and bake for 15-18 minutes in a 350 F oven or until a cake tester comes out clean. Batter will be thick.
The recipe found and taken from here.
Once cooled scoop out a small amount of the center. I used 1/4 of a tsp measuring spoon and scooped out the center.


FILLING
1 12oz bag of semi sweet chocolate chips.
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup hershey syrup
I knew I didn't want to just put a hershey bar or kiss in the center because I wanted the chocolate to always remain in a slightly liquid state. So, I googled choclate ganache and then just made up my own concoction.

Place contents in pot and heat until melted. Fill cupcake center with chocolate filling. (my opinion is the more the better)

FROSTING

Seven Minute frosting. (The perfect billowy marshmellow taste)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

In large metal bowl, whisk together 1/3 cup water, sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Set bowl over pan of simmering water and mix with hand held electric mixer at low speed. Gradually increase speed to high, beating until mixture holds stiff peaks, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and continue beating until mixture is cool and billowy, about 2 minutes more. Beat in vanilla. (Frosting can be made 4 hours ahead and chilled, covered.)
Use a blow torch to lightly burn the edges to give that perfect campfire toasted taste. I love charred marshmellows so I left mine over the fire just a bit longer.
We did not have a torch. So, I used my gas stove. I inverted each cupcake held with metal tongs over my gas burner and lightly toasted the edges and top of the cupcake.
PERFECTO!!

Cherry Coffee Cake

This was good but not great, in my opinion. Instead of resembling a coffee cake mine was more like a cobbler. But, that could be because we did not give it any time to rest or cool before we cut into it! Items rarely have a chance to cool in my house.

Ingredients:

1- 18 oz. yellow cake mix, divided
2/3 cup water
2 eggs
1 can (21 oz.) Cherry pie filling
1/3 cup butter (4 Tbl)
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 TBLsp. Water

Stir together 1 1/2 cup cake mis, water and eggs.
spoon into a greased 13x9 baking pan.
Top with pie filling
Cut butter into remaining dry batter, until mixture is crumbly.
Sprinkle over pie filling.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool.
while cake is cooling, combine 1 cup confectioners sugar and 1TBLsp water,
drizzle over cake. Serves 12

Magic shell

When I was a kid I loved this stuff! My favorite is a double dipped vanilla soft serve icecream cone at DAIRY QUEEN! I order it to this day if my feet happen to find their way to a Dairy Queen parlor. The recipe with butter and using semi sweet chocolate chips remind me of my beloved DQ.

SORRY THE PICS aren't the greatest!
I researched many recipes and found different variances but have settled on highlighting this ladies blog, PLEASE GO HERE.

RECIPE

one cup coconut oil (if you do not have coconut oil, refer to recipe at bottom)

one to two cups semi sweet or dark chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Melt coconut oil over low heat in a sauce pan. Melt chocolate chips gradually in pan, stirring or whisking in a little at a time. Consistency should be very runny.

Store in a canning jar or a plastic container at room temperature. If stored in fridge, please re heat slowly.

Containers, WE use the melting chocolate candy containers from wilton or a washed out ketchup bottle works great too!

Just save a previous magic shell bottle and make your own refills! It is sooo much cheaper and better too.

You can change the look of magic shell by melting white chocolate. However the food coloring will resist bonding to the chocolate because food coloring is water based. However, if you use the wilton colored chocolate this would work.

Also the fat content can change your magic shell, as to using butter or coconut oil. The use of milk chocolate chips or semi chocolate chips will vary the flavor.

ADD INS to spice it up:: Drops to taste of mint, almond, lemon oil, lime oil or even orange.

>RECIPE, with butter

6 oz. bag of chocolate chips

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Melt chocolate chips and butter in pan or microwave.

Once melted add oil. Mix well and spoon over ice cream

Dutch apple crumb

Dutch Oven Apple Crumb cake
Ingredients
2 cans (21 oz) apple pie filling (brand of choice)
12 oz Caffeine free Dr Pepper or 2 cans rootbeer soda
1 whole stick butter cubed
1 yellow cake mix or butter recipe
Cinnamon

Step 1. Heat 28 bricketts (coals) and then go in to assemble pie.

Step 2.
For easy clean up line dutch oven with foil.
Start with dutch oven and pour apple pie filling into dutch oven.
Sprinkle with cinnamon generously
Pour cake mix over top of mixture, evenly.


Cube butter over top of cake mix, evenly.


Pour 12 oz. of soda over the top.

Step 3.
Put lid on top. Take dutch oven to heated coals.

Step 4.
Place 10 hot coals on bottom. Evenly distribute and place 18 hot coals on top of lid. Allow to cook for 45 minutes.

This really is an amazing pie! YUMMERZ YUMMERS!