Lemon Pound Cake

This is a lemon pound cake that is very similar to Starbuck's version.

Ingredients:

15 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

3 tbsp. milk

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. lemon extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 1/2 cups cake flour

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. baking powder

Zest of 2 lemons

2 cups powered sugar

Juice of 2 lemons

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside. 

Beat milk, eggs, and the extracts in a bowl and set aside.

Next, check on your little kitchen buddy.

Sift together flour, sugar, and baking powder and add the lemon zest. Stir to combine.

 

Add the softened butter to the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined, about 30 seconds

Then slowly add in the milk mixture, beating on medium speed until batter is combined. Turn the mixer speed on high and beat for an additional 20-30 seconds.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.  

 Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.

Let the cake cool for at least 15 minutes before you take it out of the pan.

To make the glaze, combine powdered sugar and juice of 1 lemon, at first then slowly add the juice of the other lemon. If you like it thicker, add less lemon juice, if you like it runnier, add more lemon juice.

Once cake is cooled, take a fork and poke holes all over the top of the cake. Take it out of the pan.  Pour the glaze over the top of the cake.  Let it cool for 10-15 more minutes before slicing.

Smile at the baby:

Now time to eat!

The original recipe was linked on Pinterest here.

Dessert Fruit Pizza

I looked a couple of recipes for fruit pizza before I decided on this one. 

Ingredients:
(Not included:  Information on the cookie base.  I used a cookie mix and you can too, or the original recipe uses a homemade recipe.)

1 jars (13 Ounces Each) Marshmallow Creme
1 packages (8 Ounces Each) Cream Cheese
Various kinds of fruit (I used blueberries, kiwi and strawberries)

Directions:

Mix marshmallow creme and cream cheese until light.
Spread onto cooled crust
Decorate the top generously with sliced fruit.
Slice into squares or wedges and serve.

All in all, it turned out pretty tasty.  I had to make it gluten-free for a gathering I was attending, so I think if it hadn't been gluten free, it would have been even better.  Gluten free cookies are kind of dense compared to regular sugar cookies.  I think I will make this again with a regular sugar cookie mix and see how it turns out.

I looked in a couple different places for a gluten free sugar cookie mix and couldn't find one.  I ended up using a gluten free chocolate chip mix.  I realize now that I was looking in the wrong stores.  Next time I will go to our Community Mercantile, which always has what I'm looking for.  I used the ingredients below for the gluten free cookie recipe, but the original recipe calls for using sugar cookies. 

The cookie turned out very nicely though:

I then gathered the ingredients for the topping:

I mixed them together and it formed a very nice topping.  Not overwhelmingly sweet, but just sweet enough.

I smeared it on the cookie once it was cool.  Below you can see that I left a small edge at the end of the pan to make it easier to get the cookie out at the end.

Next I got out my fruit:

I sliced it up and placed it on top.  Then I cut up the pizza into little pieces for easy sharing:

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Monster Cookies

This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies. 

Let me start off by saying that I think this particular recipe is subject to debate.  If you like chewy cookies that stay soft then this is the cookie for you.  By that description, I thought it would be the cookie for me but it wasn't really.  I don't think they're bad, but I'm not tempted by them.  That said, my husband loves them.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, slightly softened

1 1/2 cups creamy natural peanut butter, well-mixed

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 teaspoons baking soda

4 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

About 1 cup chocolate candies or other mix-ins

(I used chocolate chips, but you can use M&Ms or candy bars or nuts or all of the above.)

Preheat your oven to 350F.

I like to prepare everything ahead of time so it's easier when I start mixing so, I had four bowls of things ready to go:

Eggs and vanilla

Oatmeal

Mix-ins (chocolate chips)

Butter, peanut butter, and sugars

First, mix together the butter, peanut butter, and sugars, then add in eggs and vanilla.

Beat in baking soda, then oatmeal and mix-ins.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper and place the the mixture in balls about 2 inches apart. 
Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes or until done. 

Remove from oven when slightly golden.

Let cool on the sheets for a few minutes until they have firmed up enough to remove to wire racks.

I probably won't make these again, but they're not bad.  They're just really...chewy.

Mint chocolate chip cookies

For the St. Patrick's day potluck at work, I tried out Tidy Mom's Mint Chocolate Chip cookies.  I don't often try to bake cookies without my good friend, indie over at Girlie Review (who blogs about cosmetics but is an excellent cook), but it is time to branch out.

My baking skills are improving.  I have realized over the years that baking really is an art form and I hope one day to become proficient at it.  I'm (at times) a bit slap dash with my cooking and I often try to change recipes without thinking through the chemistry of it - which is why baking can be a dangerous area for me.  (For example, don't try to make dirt cake with all fat free ingredients unless you just want a big pile of goop. LOL)  This time the cookies turned out great!  I'd definitely recommend this recipe.

Ingredients

    1 pouch Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
    1/2 cup butter, softened
    1/2 teaspoon mint extract
    1 egg
    green food color
    1 cup creme de menthe baking chips
    1 cup dark chocolate chips

Ingridients edit:  
 I used milk chocolate chips because I'm not overly fond of dark chocolate.  I used less than 1 cup of each kind of chips.  About 3/4 cup.  I thought a whole cup seemed like a lot and I think they turned out great that way.

Instructions

Heat oven to 350°. In large bowl, stir in cookie mix, butter, mint extract, food color and the egg.  Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chips.
   

    Put dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. Let them cool for a few minutes before removing to wire rack. (I baked them for exactly 8 minutes and they were perfect!)  Here they are packed in tupperware to take to work.  Yum!

I really like the sugar cookies mixed with chocolate chips.  I think I will try to make them again without the mint added in.  Very tasty!

Lite Strawberry Cupcakes

Lately, I've been cruising Pinterest on a regular basis when I'm feeding my almost four month old baby son.  It's a fun way to get ideas and I have a ton.  Some of them I will likely never complete, but a lot of them I definitely will. 

One of the ideas I found on Pinterest was Lite Strawberry Cupcakes.  It's very easy. (I was starting out the cooking new things goal very small. Hee.)

The recipe is:

Less than 100 calories each. Replace all ingredients on package with 12oz Diet 7-up and bake as directed.
 

I made two batches.  One I used real icing because YUM, but that defeated the whole point of healthy and it made them almost too sweet.  The second batch I used fat free cool whip as the topping and it was pretty good.  Not that sweet and a real light treat. The picture below is the batch with the icing.



My husband, Doug, loved them. People at work had next to no interest in so-called healthy cupcakes.