Knock You Naked Brownies

   

Well it certainly has been some time since I sat down to do some writing.  I have been busy playing scramble on the ipad and reading a book (if you can actually picture that), those are in addition to the things life generally brings like dinner, laundry and kids activities.

     I haven't gotten away from baking and crafting, as those are things that I do love to do.  So one night I was headed to my friend Barb's for a night of card making, I didn't want to go empty handed so I broke out my new Pioneer Woman cookbook.  I flipped through the pages looking for just the right dessert to bring and what did I see but "Knock You Naked" Brownies.  If the name wasn't catchy enough I don't know what would be.  A quick view of the recipe and I was off to the supermarket for a bag of caramels.

     So I get home and I start unwrapping caramels to get them in my new double boiler, I was itching to use that thing.  The for the can of evaporated milk...sh--!  I only had sweetened condensed milk in the house, but I was not going back to the supermarket, I can improvise.  I used the sweetened condensed milk, but I also added a splash of regular milk as sweetened condensed milk is thicker than the evaporated.

     The recipe also called for a 9X9 baking pan, which I didn't have.  I did have a 8X8 baker so that was going to have to do.

     I have to tell you these brownies were a hit with my husband and I quote "Please don't leave those brownies at home again, take the whole pan with you next time.  I was like a junkie eating them, they are so good."

Celebrating the New Year with Nutella Bread Pudding

Well, I went through a lot of changes last year and all for the good.  There are always new things on my plate, which I like.  My #1 priority is to get healthy, I have a lot of living to do and want to feel great doing it.  But of course I wanted to go out with a bang on New Years Eve.

Well that "BANG" was a Nutella Bread Pudding in the crockpot!  I am a lover of hot desserts, especially hot chocolate desserts.

I started with a loaf of challah bread from Rockland Bakery, if you have never been there and are in Rockland County it is a must stop into place.  You walk right into the back of this gigantic "warehouse" where bagels are coming right out of the oven onto a conveyor belt, fresh loaves are wheeled out on huge racks, and oh the pastries and sweets are overwhelming.  You help yourself with a gloved hand of course.  I should do a segment on that place alone, kind of like a field trip.  I get excited just thinking about it.

The recipe can be found at the Americas Test Kitchen Blog, and it was easy to follow.  One of the only changes I made were to prepping the crockpot with an aluminum foil liner, and I replaced it with one of the new crockpot liners.  They are similar to oven bags and they keep the clean up to a minimum.

Let the baking begin.

It is that time of year, cookie swaps, holiday parties, gift giving.  I always make a ton of cookies, my co-workers and the kids teachers looked forward to the home baked gifts.  I find something relaxing about baking in the midst of all the holiday hustle and bustle.

This year I started a little later than normal, but I also don't want to make as many as normal.  I really don't need an extra 10 pounds of Christmas cookies floating around the house after Christmas and into the New Year.

I started with Chocolate Chip Cookies, not just any recipe but my friend Amy's recipe.  I don't quite know what makes this recipe come out better than any other chocolate chip recipe I have ever tried, but these really ROCK!

As a matter of fact the only person I ever heard say they didn't love these cookies was my little guy, Francis, and he loves anything with chocolate.  I think it is the fact he is home sick and we are waiting the results of some tests from the doctors office, and I think right about now in his world nothing is good.

Just Sinful

Once again I have a bunch of mushy bananas laying on my counter.  Bananas in this house sometimes get eaten within hours of coming home, sometimes they just sit and get mushy calling my name to bake with them.

I wanted to do something a little different this time around.  I have added chocolate chips.  I have added nuts.  I have added coconut.  I have never added NUTELLA.  Imagine finding a recipe out there that contains something as sinful as Nutella, just dangerous.

This recipe produced a delicious, moist banana bread.  I made one full sized loaf and a bunch of mini loaves to share, as I am trying not to over indulge myself.  Plus who doesn't love a fresh baked gift?

Nutella Banana Bread

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two full sized loaf pans.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add in the eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon and combine.

3. Mix in salt, baking soda, and flour just until combined. Mix in nutella.

4.Divide batter into prepared pans and bake for 35-45minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I am always looking something to do with very ripe bananas.  I came across this recipe in an email, I don't know which website it came from as I get a ton of recipes in my email almost on a daily basis.  This one called for ingredients I had on hand, which is always important.  

One of the ingredients I swapped out was regular chocolate chips for white chocolate chunks, that was because I just prefer a regular chocolate.  I also choose mini-chips over chunks, I felt that would give more chocolate flavor in every bite.

This recipe turned out to be a keeper, they were moist, tasty and easy to make.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 3/4 cups (225 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 cup (100 grams) white granulated sugar

1/4 cup (55 grams) light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (2 ounces) (65 grams) chocolate chips or chunks

3 large ripe bananas (approximately 1 pound or 454 grams), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

I always start by mashing the bananas with a potato masher right in the bowl I am mixing everything in.  The pour the rest of the ingredients into the bowl.  Mix well, but don't over mix otherwise muffins will be tough.  Spoon evenly among a 12 cup muffin tin that has been coated with cooking spray.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, then test with a toothpick until it comes out clean.

Baby Shower Favor

I was excited about having a baby shower at work because not only was I excited about a friend having a baby but I was dying to make a cute favor I had an idea for.  I had been itching to use my owl punch and this was the perfect opportunity.  I did a search of owl baby showers and found a cute phrase to put on the favor "Look whoooooo's having a baby".

I used the scallop square and scallop oval from Spellbinder to make the front and back of the box, I used the word window punch and owl punch from Stampin' Up.  The paper was a pattern out of the new Close To My Heart catalog.  They were the perfect size to be filled with Ghirardelli squares.

Black Russian Cake

I can see how people tend to pack on the pounds during the snowy winter months, I feel the need to do some baking on a snowy day, followed up with eating of what I have baked on a snowy day.  With another pending storm today I broke out the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor as I had seen a recipe a few weeks ago that I had been itching to try.

A Black Russian is a cocktail made from Vodka and Kahlua, well the cake is no different.

Here are the rest of the ingredients:

Black Russian Cake
1 yellow cake mix
1 large package (5.9 oz) instant chocolate pudding
1 cup oil
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1/4 cup Kahlua
1/4 cup Vodka

Glaze
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup Kahlua

Preheat over to 350 degrees and prepare a bundt pan with cooking spray or shortening.  Place all of the cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Mix until all ingredients are well blended.  Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes.

While the cake is baking prepare the glaze.  Once the cake is removed from the oven cool in pan for about 10 minutes and remove from pan.  Slowly pour the glaze over the warm cake.  Enjoy!

The final product was delicious.  The cake was so moist, and the alcohol was not over powering.  This will definately be made again.

Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

It all began with a trip to the local library. I always browse the new arrivals, I am not a big reader but I do love a good cookbook. This wasn't just any cookbook but a cookbook that had a little story that went along with each cake. Cakes that she shared with her co-workers, just like me. An added bonus was when I googled the cookbook, because I had to have it, I found it on a discount book website and scored it for $5 with FREE SHIPPING! This is just the first of many cakes to come from this must have cookbook.



All too often I have bananas on the counter that are past their eating prime, so it was a no brainer to start with a banana cake. The chocolate frosting that went with the cake is what made it real special in my eyes. Homemade chocolate frosting...YUM!

I had to adjust this recipe just a bit. First the shortening I had was rancid, so I replaced with butter. The frosting called for unsalted butter, I only keep salted in the house. Lastly I found that the frosting needed more cream to make it spreadable.



Recipe

Cake
2/3 cup shortening
1 2/3 cup sugar
2 1/1 cup cake flour
1 1/4 tea baking powder
1 tea baking soda
1 tea salt
1 1/4 cup ripe bananas mashed
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Frosting
Two 1 ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 tea vanilla
6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup cream or sweetened condensed milk

To Make the CakePreheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare tube pan. Cream shortening, then gradually add sugar, mixing well. In a separate bowl, dry whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the creamed mixture and beat until blended. Add mashed bananas and half the buttermilk and mix until moistened, then increase mixer speed to med-high and mix for two minutes. Add the rest of the buttermilk and eggs, and beat another two minutes. Stir in walnuts. Bake in a tube pan for 50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and unmold.

To Make the Frosting
Melt chocolate in a double boiler or heat proof bowl. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Allow to cool. With mixer on medium speed, cream butter, then gradually add half og th confectioner's sugar, blend well. Beat 2 tbsp cream into mix. Beat in remaining sugar and cream. Add melted chocolate to the creamed mixture and beat until smooth. Spread on cooled cake.

Cake Bites

This recipe came from Bakerella. It seems that these cake bites are all the rage, so much so that a book is being published solely on the topic of cake pops (aka cake bites on a stick). I didn't want to make them just for the sake of making them, I wanted there to be a special occasion. With our mom's group we have a meal support for mom's who have just had babies. My good friend Donna just had a beautiful baby girl and what better occasion than that.



The "recipe" begins with a boxed cake mix prepared as directed. You bake and cool. Then crumble. Basically you are making a cake and trashing it to rubble, kind of fun.



Next you take a can of cream cheese frosting and work it into the cake crumbs. Chill briefly to to firm up the cake mix, you want it workable. Roll them into balls and put on a baking sheet covered in waxed paper. Place into freeze for a few hours, you will want them firm.



You are going to dip them into melted chocolate, and place them in the fridge. This was the first time I ever worked at coating something in chocolate, it took a little getting used to. Not bad for a first try.



http://www.bakerella.com/red-velvet-cake-balls/