Recipe testing a new vanilla cake recipe. I’m really excited about this one! Hope to have it published for everyone soon.
Isn’t baking and blogging fun??
Recipe Testing!
Tag: baking
Fridays Are For Cakes (Magnolia Bakery Recipe #1)
My father’s birthday was last Saturday. For me this date had a little more meaning this year than in previous years since it is the day I coincide with the end of the “before times” prior to COVID-19 changing our lives.
So, as a way for me to stay distracted, I offered to bake his birthday cake. He gladly accepted the offer. So, I turned to a book that I have fallen in love with ever since I purchased it last Fall. It is The Magnolia Bakery Handbook: A Complete Guide for the Home Baker. This is a MUST BUY for anyone who enjoys baking, even in a casual sense. The recipes are flawless and so easy to follow. You will honestly feel like you are a master baker every time you try one of these recipes!
Continue reading “Fridays Are For Cakes (Magnolia Bakery Recipe #1)”
Yesterday’s Bake
Yesterday was Pi Day! It was March 14 and the mathematical number, Pi, begins with 3.14. Though I did decide to bake yesterday, I did not bake a pie. Instead, I made GIANT chocolate chip cookies!
The recipe I used came from Sally’s Baking Addiction and the recipe I used can be found here. I highly recommend checking out her baking blog. There are recipes for virtually anything you would ever want to bake. Plus, the stellar food photograph really makes her recipes shine. I often want to jump right into my computer’s screen to gobble everything up!
If you are looking for a giant cookie recipe, these will not disappoint. The recipe is easy and, unlike some of Sally’s cookie recipes, does not require any chilling time. One downside is the recipe only yields 6 cookies. Though, each one is equivalent to about 4 regular-sized cookies. But, by making a second batch, you can get twelve extra, extra large cookies in no time!
I’ll be honest, when making these cookies, I thought the massive amount of cookie dough used for each one would cause it to be dense. But that wasn’t the case at all. This recipe was definitely a success for me! The best part? No scooping the dough required. (One less tool to wash!) I just turned out the prepared cookie dough on a piece of parchment paper, formed it into a large hockey puck shape, and divided it into 6 sections. Each section became one cookie. It worked great!!
After baking, while the cookies cooled, I decide to “dress them up” a little bit and pressed in some additional chocolate chips into the tops. This gave the cookie a “bakery look” and really did make them look better.
Yum!
Barefoot Contessa Recipe #36: Red Velvet Cupcakes
This recipe is available in How Easy is That?
This week, one of my co-workers had his last day at work before moving onto his new job. Usually we have a little party and lunch or dinner for the person leaving. Due to some COVID precautions, this was scaled back a tad. But, I still offered to make cupcakes!
Part of this — ok, most of it — was self-centered. I love to bake and I wanted another excuse to knock off a recipe. So, I offered to make the red velvet cupcakes. And let me tell you: they were a HUGE hit!
This recipe makes 15 cupcakes, which in my opinion is a great number. Many other red velvet recipes make like 24 cupcakes. I didn’t need that many…trying to lose weight and be healthy with cupcakes around the house isn’t a good idea–so Ina came through on that front as well!
These cupcakes weren’t dry and had the right balance of flavors. There wasn’t too much food coloring in them. That was nice because who likes tasting food coloring? The cream cheese frosting was the perfect balance between the tangy cream cheese flavor and sweetness. I highly recommend these for your next red velvet needs!
Due to COVID, I decided to put each one in little boxes. That way people could take them home if they didn’t want to eat them at work. Though, most of my coworkers just ate them right after serving. But, the boxes did make them look cute and more “professional.” I was very pleased with how these turned out.
A Preview…
So many surprise recipes! Needed more than I originally thought. Check out the blog next week to read about everything I ended up making over the next few days.
- Cavatappi pasta
- Half gallon whole milk
- Unsalted butter (if on sale)
- 12 ounces Gruyere cheese
- 8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar
- Buttermilk
- Eggs
- 1 package cream cheese
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- Nabisco vanilla wafers OR Ginger Snaps
- 5-6 large bananas
Weekend Photos I
Looks like something tasty is in the works! Cold holiday weekends are for baking, what else is there to do?!?!
Some Great Valentine’s Day Desserts
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! With the pandemic still affecting “normal life,” I figured most people would be spending more time indoors this weekend. And if you live in the North East, like I do, we may be getting an ice storm! Yay for winter!! (Is it spring yet??….anyone….)
Anyway….I decided to scour the interwebs to find some Valentine’s Day worthy desserts that you can whip up and serve to a loved one. If you try one of these, let me know what you thought of it in the comments down below!
Continue reading “Some Great Valentine’s Day Desserts”What I Do on Snow Days
I bake bread!
Changing it Up a Little
Hey everyone!
This week, I am thinking of breaking out of the Ina-shell once again. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve made a recipe that wasn’t out of one of Ina Garten’s books. If you follow me on Instagram, I teased that I may be cooking something out of the Gourmet Today cookbook. I still have not decided what that will be. But, I’m busy thumbing through the pages, looking for something enticing.
I will surely let you know what recipe I am making Friday morning whether I chose to make one out of Gourmet Today or another cookbook entirely. In addition to my usual Friday-night dinner cooking plans. I will also be making a chocolate cake for a family member’s birthday. However, I will not be making an Ina Garten chocolate cake. She has quiet a few recipes for chocolate cakes. They vary in shape and size, but I just want something a little different.
The cake and frosting recipe I make for the birthday celebration will be out of The Magnolia Bakery Handbook. This is a dedicated baking book and for the price, you get A LOT of recipes and information. If you buy one baking book, I think it should be this one! The recipes are easy to follow and the results are well-worth it.
I’m so excited to share with you photos of the chocolate cake this weekend and whatever recipe or recipes I decide to make for Friday’s dinner.
In other news, I may start doing more than one post a day every now and then. I’ve always wanted this blog to evolve a bit over time. I may have some general life related posts or just little “updates” about things that I am doing that day or that week.
Until the recipes are made….
P.S. The photo at the top of this page is not something I’ve made. (But boy, do I WISH I had the recipe!) I just liked it and felt it went with the theme of this post a little bit.
