The Baking Apprentice

Gracenotes

2023-05-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Wow! It's been 10 years since the last post, a decade. A lot has happened, and I'd love for you to check out my new lifestyle blog, "Gracenotes"

As a pianist, I love using grace notes. It's a simple way to embellish the melody. Basically, it's a passing tone on the way to the main note.

I hope that my brief life can be an eternal encouragement to others. At the very least, I write to remind myself of truths that I so easily forget. I hope the posts both encourage and challenge you.

-Grace

Turtle Cake

2013-02-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Today I'm linking up with Sharon Fleming's Around the Table blog and she is sharing a great Valentine's Day recipe just in time for February 14th! To read the directions, head on over to Mrs.Fleming's Blog!! Make sure to take a look around at all the great recipes, advice for meal times, and some great giveaways too! To learn more about Mrs. Fleming and her ministry, click here. Enjoy!

Turtle Cake

Ingredients:

1 14 oz. bag caramels

5 oz. evaporated milk

1 box (18.5 oz) Devil's Food cake mix with pudding (get one that calls for oil) (and ingredients called for in cake mix)

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

And since it's Valentine's Day, wouldn't it be cute to make a card like this one to accompany your turtle cake!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Valentine's Day Cake Pops

2013-02-01T03:30:00.000-08:00

Today I'm linking up with a fabulous blog called Around the Table. This blog has articles about improving family meal times, conversation starters, and great recipes too! (If you'd like to see a previous post with my interview on "Around the Table" click here.)

Happy Valentine's Day! I've always loved this holiday, mostly because I usually get a lot of candy and chocolate, especially from my Grandma, and I can wear all the pink I want! Well, back to baking...these cake pops are very simple to make and they're a lot of fun to decorate for Valentine's Day! This is one of those recipes where all you need is a little faith and pixie dust...NOT! But you may want some sprinkles, or if you must have some pixie dust, make sure to use edible glitter dust!

Because cake pops are tricky to present, I decided to take them off the
stick and put the cake pops on a little tray.

Ingredients:
-1 Betty Crocker cake mix (and ingredients called for on the box)
-1 container of vanilla frosting (or your favorite flavor!)
-1 package of red candy melts (these are typically found at a craft store such as Micheal's)
-sprinkles! (red,white, pink, etc.)
-lollipop sticks
-foam block for drying and displaying cake pops

Directions:
1) Bake cake according to package directions. Let cool.
2) Once cake is cooled, crumble cake into a fine mixture using your hands.
3) Pour crumbled cake into a large bowl and mix in 3/4 of a container of vanilla frosting.
4) Mix with a spoon or your hands until thoroughly combined.
5) Melt candy melts according to package directions. Dip lollipop
sticks in melted candy melts just slightly and push inside the cake
ball. This helps secure the stick in the cake ball. Place in the
fridge for about 15 minutes to harden.
6) Dip and coat hardened cake balls in candy melts and tap stick
against the side of the bowl to shake off the excess. If desired, dip
cake pop into sprinkles until covered.
7) Stick into the foam block to dry. Enjoy!

P.S. Another way to do this, is to buy a cake pop pan!
Here is a link to another cake pop recipe!

An accidental rose pop! (The pop got dipped at a wrong angle and it turned out like this!)
As to how to make one of these, I don't really know. :)

In my heart there rings a Melodi...^

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Cinnamon Apple Crescents

2013-01-15T16:35:00.001-08:00

Could it get any easier? This is a canned crescent roll, wrapped around an apple slice, then baked for 9 minutes. Nope, can't get much easier than that.

This is a mixture of brown sugar & cinnamon, although I prefer using white sugar.

Ingredients:

1 apple

Yet another version of the recipe.

1 can of 8 Pillsbury crescent rolls

1/2 cup of butter, melted

1/2 cup of cinnamon/brown sugar mixture

whipped cream & caramel (Optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Wash and cut the apple into 8 pieces. Take out the Pillsbury rolls and separate into 8 triangles. Brush a thin layer of butter and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar onto both sides of the triangle, place on pan and roll up the apple.

3. Bake for approximately 9 minutes, or until golden brown. If desired garnish with whipped cream and caramel sauce.

*To make the dessert even sweeter, brush the apple with the butter and cinnamon sugar.

Pretty easy right? There are lots of different versions for this recipe. I honestly thought that I was making an original. But alas, when I searched the internet for "cinnamon crescent apples," they were already made....sigh...oh well.

P.S. I'm experimenting with making this a Wordpress Blog!!! I'm hoping it will be ready by the blog's first anniversary (March 2nd). =D

Christmas Cookies

2012-12-22T15:08:00.000-08:00

Hello!!!

I just popped in to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!

not any of this Happy Holiday stuff...just good ole Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Have you thought about making a New Year's resolution yet?

This past year I made a resolution (along with my brother) to not drink any soda OR carbonated water for a whole year. Yes, that meant no sparkling cider on Thanksgiving either. I'm proud to say that I've stuck with it and I only have a few more days to go!

But while I'm waiting, I made a very festive batch of peanut butter blossoms that I wanted to share with you.

Donut Muffins & Happy Veteran's Day

2012-11-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

The other day my mom was looking at the title of the blog, and she asked, "The Baking Apprentice? How long will your apprenticeship last before you graduate to the next level?" And I thought to myself, "Hmmm, that's a very good question." Apparently most apprenticeships last for 3, 4, or possibly even more years...yikes! But, thankfully I'm not really under an apprenticeship, otherwise I'd be baking ~~forever~~ for 36 months. Speaking of learning new things, I signed up for a 4-session cake decorating class to hopefully learn some new cake skills and share it with you guys! But for now I leave you with donuts...

The Ingredients

A donut batter with no yeast!

Instead of frying the donuts, these are baked and smothered with butter and sugar. I'm not sure if that makes them healthier or not, but it does save time and should cut down on the ill effects of frying them.

You can find the recipe to these donuts right here!

Happy Veteran's Day!

A very big THANK YOU to all those who faithfully serve our country. Your dedication and perseverance is greatly appreciated.

Some inspiration for celebrating Veteran's Day!
Cameo Cupcakes!

Happy Veteran's Day!
(Source: Chickabug Blog)

Scream Cheese Brownies

2012-11-06T15:30:00.001-08:00

So, the Giants won The World Series and if you lived around here that's a really big deal!!! This brownie was partially in honor of the big win and partially in honor of the fall season and mostly because it was my turn to bring snacks to an event. This recipe was perfect because it calls for orange food coloring which is very fall-like AND one of the Giants' colors. (For those of you who don't really follow baseball, like me, the San Francisco Giants wear orange and black, and sometimes the catcher wears orange-looking nail polish!) SO this brownie is a delicious, multi-purpose dessert which could be made for whatever reason you can come up with or just because you're hungry!

The Ingredients

And, here comes the orange food coloring.

The batter layered in the pan. It's all Battered up!
Sorry, I couldn't resist especially with this baseball theme going on here..=p

It's a swirling sensation!

I found this recipe on the blog The Girl Who Ate Everything. Catchy title, huh?!? You can find the recipe here. I don't know much about The World Series or baseball in general, but I do know how to make the brownies to celebrate! PS - Did you know that there's a reason why the catchers sometimes wear bright nail polish??? It's so the pitcher can see his signals in the San Francisco fog. There's some useless information that might just help you on a game show one day!

Maybe a Cookie or a Break or Both?

2012-10-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

Wait?!?! You're blogging about this??

When I first started off with this blog, I thought to myself, "okay, chex mix is pretty basic, I'll just write about that." But then I kept thinking to myself, "cookies, cakes, brownies, what other dessert is there to make?!?!" But then I did some searching and found that there are A LOT of desserts out there!!! And there are new recipes being made every single day! But...after all this research I found that most people don't write about the basic stuff, just the fancy-schmancy stuff that takes a lot of time, patience, and ingredients! So I thought it was time to get basic, REALLY BASIC, and put my little sister to work on some "pop'em in the oven" cookies. Yeah, I'm talking "ready-to-bake" cookies...no fuss, no mess, get-er-done dessert! The oven warms up the house, the smell warms up the senses, and the cookies warm up our stomachs.

Believe it or not Anna photo-bombed this picture, it turned out nicely though.

The Ingredient!

The secret to keeping them fluffy is to make sure
they have time to cool, at least my sister believes this.
And if you just can't wait, turn on the fan to help speed things up a bit.

I apologize if this post was a bit too basic or culinary boring for you, but little kids have to start somewhere. And hang in there because I've got some unusual fall recipes coming up...really cool stuff like candy corn cupcakes, scream cheese brownies, pumpkin cheesecake, and no-fry cinnamon donut holes. Soooo excited for the fall baking season, now do you see why I took a quick break in between? Anyway, stay tuned!!!

Scotcheroos

2012-10-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

Would you like one?

I absolutely LOVE to try out new recipes but unfortunately my siblings aren't always happy about this. You see, they LOVE the tried and true desserts such as chocolate chip cookies, coffee toffee bars, and all the "proven to be good" stuff. I usually save those recipes to take to events and then I do all of my experimenting on the family! My blog would get pretty boring if all I wrote about is how I made chocolate chip cookies, but here is a recipe that turns some basic ingredients into a yummy dessert. Who knows, maybe it will even fall into the "tried and true" category. You decide...

The Ingredients

*Spoiler Alert!* They turned out a bit crunchy!
I'm giving my Dad's teeth a good work-out! =)

This is probably the step where I messed up.
It's hard to concentrate, when you're taking a picture,
reading the next step, and trying to make sure nothing sticks to the pan...

Chocolate and the "secret" ingredient - butterscotch.

Super happy that I got a picture with her even though she didn't get to try one.

Here is the recipe.

Sometimes when I run out of time for a writing assignment, or can't think of an ending, I'll end the paper with, "After everything we've just discussed I'll let you, the reader, draw your own conclusions." So, I'm running out of time to finish this post, guess how it well end? "After everything we've just discussed, I'll let you, the reader, decide if you want to make this or not..." =)

Fruit-Filled Oatmeal Bars

2012-10-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

It's October!!! And that gives me lots of fall inspiration and ideas for the beginning of the cool weather baking season! (P.S. - Stay tuned for my post about fall cookie ideas!) I realize that P.S.'s should usually be at the end, but oh well, tomorrow is Columbus Day and I have the day off school so let's take a break from proper grammar rules too! Anyway, back to baking...this recipe is sort of similar to Apple Crisp. The biggest similarity is that it also contains apples. =)

The Ingredients

I've been writing to some companies and trying to negotiate a giveaway in exchange for free advertising on my blog! I can't wait to see if any of them respond and YOU, my faithful readers, will be the first to hear about it and benefit from it if that does happen!

Something must be happening in this kitchen, it's sooo messy!

Sometimes I make this apple filling and pour it on to waffles or pancakes. It tastes really good!

Ingredients

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. quick-cooking rolled oats
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. butter
Raisin or apple filling (below) or 10 oz. jar preserves

In a mixing bowl combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/2 cup of the flour mixture. Press remaining flour mixture into bottom of ungreased 9x9x2 inch baking pan. Spread with desired filling. Sprinkle with reserved flour mixture.Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until top is golden. Cool in the pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes 25.

RAISIN FILLING:

In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 2 teaspoons of cornstarch. Add 1 cup raisins. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly.

APPLE FILLING: (This is the one I used!)

Peel, core, and chop 2 medium apples. In a medium saucepan, combine apples, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons of water, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of ground cloves. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 8-10 minutes or until tender.

An apple a day keeps the doctor/dentist a way...
BTW, there's hardly ever a time when we don't have apples in the fridge. You see, my dad's a dentist and he likes to have his daily apple.

Pros:

-I always have apples in the fridge.

-I have never had a cavity even with all this baking.

-If I ever have a toothache, there's always a dentist around to fix it.

-Dentists are known for having a sweet-tooth and that's how some of the dessert I make gets eaten. =)

Cons:
-I really can't think of anything...

Monster Cookies & a Makeover

2012-10-04T11:17:00.005-07:00

Hi! So here I am after almost 3 weeks without posting! That's definitely a new record which hopefully I won't break anytime soon! I also have a "NEW LOOK" thanks to Heidi over at Bits of Sunshine!

I absolutely love it and I hope you guys do too! Thank you sooooo much Heidi, for all the time you spent on my blog. I'm really happy that I have a new, original design!

Thank you!

I wanted to post something worthy of this new design, so I whipped up a batch of Ree Drumond's monster cookies!

The Ingredients

Here's the recipe! It's very similar to Trail Mix Cookies.

My blog really needed a makeover (I'm so thankful I got one), but these cookies don't!

How will these cookies turn out? Stay tuned for the next ~~episode~~... picture.

Ta-Da!

So, what's changed on my blog besides the new updated design?!?!?! If you take a look at the bottom, I now have some buttons so you can pin, facebook, tweet, or stumble it. There's also a handy dandy RSS Feed button which means that my blog can be delivered right to you every time I post a new recipe. So to sum all of this up, I basically have a new design (which I love!) along with the same amazing, simple recipes!

And not to mention, I also have a new design for my GB2 slogan! If you look carefully at the spoons you'll see a cross! =)

Blackberry Bars

2012-09-17T10:08:00.002-07:00

Yum!

Some things are learned the hard way. Sometimes I feel like the only way I learn is the hard way, like the time I accidentally burned down the house. It was bad. The smoke filled the house, and I was coughing as if I had an asthma attack. Also, my ears were ringing from the smoke alarm.

Fortunately, this recipe is a whole lot easier and calmer. This time, most of the noise around here was from laughter. =)

The Ingredients + Amy, this ingredient is very hard to find.

We had three options for this part: food processor, blender, or manpower.
We decided on woman power. =)

Tea, a drink with ^jam^ and...crust. That will bring us back to...

The recipe! This girl also came up with the "Fourth of July Flag Cake."

BTW, If you go to acronym finder.com, they actually have my definition of GB2 on there...it's on the very bottom, but at least it's there!

(Amy, sorry this took soooo long to post.) =(

Buttermilk Pie

2012-09-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

Wow! So pretty!

I think this is the last recipe I have from our visit to the east coast this summer. (Hint! Hint! That means you should come visit me Grandma, so we can bake!) This recipe was actually a surprise to me. I came back from camp and found a bunch of pie pictures on my sister's camera...but that's great because now I can blog about it!

BTW, I guess I should give some credit to my Mom for taking all these pictures for me while I was away at camp. =)

Grandma in the "pie crust zone" of intense concentration. Maybe that's why they always turn out so nicely.

It's like a sculptured work of art.

Look out everyone, she's got her rolling pin and crust. You never know what may happen next...

This is what happens. This is base of the pie which looks a little like mashed potatoes.

Be careful that it doesn't overflow!

My 96-year-old great-grandmother eating a piece of pie.

I know how much grandmothers like to brag about their grand-kids, so I'd like to take a moment to tell you how incredible my Great-Grandmother Brown is...

Almost everyday she'll sit in her rocking chair and crochet a blanket (baby blankets, sofa throws, etc.) either to give away or to donate to my cousins' school fundraisers, etc.

She likes to have some background entertainment going on while she's crocheting so the TV is usually on the Game Show Network to watch her favorite game shows. She tops it off at 8PM with an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" and then goes off to bed at 9PM. Oh, I almost forgot...she also likes to read and works on word-finds most afternoons too! When you're 96 you can pretty much do what you want and get away with it, including having a stash of unending M&Ms by your side during the day.

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp. flour
dash salt
3 egg yolks, beaten
4 tbsp. margarine (softened)
2 cups buttermilk
beaten egg whites (with mixer)
9 inch unbaked pie shell.

Directions:

Blend the first five ingredients then carefully add the buttermilk with a whisk.

Fold in the beaten egg whites. You can do this with a whisk too. Pour into unbaked pie shell.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce to 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Unless your pie pan is extra large it may not all go in, so be careful!

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!

Supreme Cheesecake

2012-09-10T16:27:00.002-07:00

Would you like to know how this blog got started? I wasn't visited by the ghost of Cooking Past that showed me all of my horrible baking mistakes or told me how this world would be a terrible place without my scrumptious desserts. The world would still be fine without my desserts. It was sort of a random idea that popped into my mother's head as a good way to get me to write more. Well it's worked AND it's been fun along the way!

Wanna know a secret? This recipe calls for walnuts and cinnamon which makes it uniquely different from other cheesecakes... in a good way!!!

I got to bake it in a real cheesecake pan, not one of those 9x9 squares.
Cheesecake is a sophisticated dessert and it needs a proper pan!

Vanilla?
Vanilla is just a bit too plain for me so I swirled in some strawberry flavoring.

I had some tough competition for dessert that day (a store-bought cheesecake sampler), but tough competition is always welcome!

My Mom's handy-dandy egg separator that she got at a craft fair. I think it likes me!

Some of our guests on Sunday trying out the cheesecake. They're smiling - that's a good sign!

Notice the band aid. I got a bunch of cuts on my
hand trying to make some chocolate curls that probably won't be on the blog anytime soon!

It seems there are a lot of "mini" versions of things out there like mini cheesecakes, mini pancakes, and Mini Mouse.

Adapted from Better Homes and Garden"s Cheesecake Supreme.

Prep Time: 15-20 min

Bake Time 35-45min

CHEESECAKE SUPREME
1-1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs and 1 yolk
1/2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel or 1/4 tsp lemon juice (optional)
(I swirled in most (6oz.) of an 8oz. container of Yoplait Strawberry yogurt, and it tasted really good!

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. For crust, in a bowl combine crushed graham crackers, walnuts and, if desired, the cinnamon. Stir in melted butter. Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of an 8- or 9-inch springform pan; set aside.

2. For filling, in a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese, the 1 cup sugar, the flour, and vanilla with an electric mixer until combined. Stir in milk until smooth. Stir in eggs and, if desired, lemon peel.

3. Pour filling into crust-lined pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes for an 8-inch pan, 35 to 40 minutes for a 9-inch pan, or until a 2-1/2-inch area around the outside edge appears set when gently shaken.

4. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a small sharp knife, loosen the crust from sides of pan; cool for 30 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan; cool cheesecake completely on rack. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours before serving. Makes 12 servings.

Oh, and if you haven't noticed yet, my blogging schedule is really weird. You see it goes like this: finish school and anything else I have to do and then post; therefore I haven't had much time for blogging, but I'm working on it! Pleeeease cut me some slack, I'm in high school now! =0

Anyway, it's almost a week later and all of the homemade cheesecake is gone and we've got like 4 pieces left of the store bought...stuff.

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!!!

( BTW, the Jets lost their first preseason game...the team probably just needed some cheesecake. Hey! I've still got 4 pieces of that store bought stuff. =) )

Shoofly Pie

2012-08-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

People ate the pie so quickly so unfortunately this is all that
was left to take a picture of - the last piece!

This summer has been filled with many sights and states and foods and friends. The last thing left on my "Grammie would you please make this list" was a shoofly pie! I never really liked the idea of eating something that had a fly in its name but I made an exception with this recipe. News Flash! It contains no flies, but I have a feeling that it attracts flies...thus the name "shoo fly!"

Grandma stays very focused even when you ask her to "smile for the camera" or maybe she was tired from all the picture taking. =)

Everything all mashed up, with our handy, dandy pastry blender.

"Amazing Reaction!"

No, this is not a pumpkin pie, it's a shoofly pie. It's not very good at shooing away the flies though. =P

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 rounded tbsp. Crisco
1 cup molasses
1 egg beaten
3/4 cup hot water
1 tsp. baking soda
9 inch unbaked pie crust

Directions:
1. In a large bowl add flour, brown sugar, and Crisco and blend with a pastry blender or fork. (And as grandma said, "blend until your arm is tired.") Lay aside 1/2 cup of the crumbs.

2. Pour molasses and whisked egg into the large bowl and stir. In a separate small bowl combine water and baking soda and carefully pour this into the large bowl. After you finish stirring, pour contents of large bowl into pie pan then sprinkle the 1/2 cup crumbs on top.

3. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 min.

This little baker went to Aunt Shannon's, this little baker went to Grandma's, and finally this little baker went to Aunt Lori's. After all that, she's back home and baking in her own kitchen with her own potholders, pans, and dishcloths to clean up all of her own messes...

Sorry it took soooo long to post this. School has officially started which ends the late nights of blogging and the sleeping in AND the extra time to bake but I'll see what I can do during the school year...

GB2- God Bless, Go BAKE!!!

Mini Cannoli Cream Cups

2012-08-09T19:53:00.001-07:00

I know how much a lot of you out there like chocolate chip cookies, brownies, cake, and a lot of other desserts...but my favorite is always a cannoli. The funny thing about the cannoli is you either love it or you hate it, or you've never had one before.

A regular cannoli is basically a fried, sweet cinnamon shell with a sweet ricotta cheese filling mixed with a heavy garnish of chocolate chips and powdered sugar. In case you didn't catch on, I'm one of those people who looooove them. =)


This is the normal, original cannoli that takes lots of work, frying and rolling.

Some chocolate chips with a hint of cream.


I finally have a chance to make good use of my cookie cutter!

My first batch was a little bit, ummm...crunchy!
I got distracted playing Super Smash Brothers with my sister.

My bucket of ~~sea~~ shells. I could eat these like a bag of Cheetos...

And here is the recipe for these really easy cannolis. This blogger also came up with the Red, White, and Blue Bundt Cake, so obviously she's got a lot of really cool ideas up her sleeve/apron.

Anyway, this definitely takes self control having something in your house that you could gobble up so quickly...

Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the spirit is self control... =)

GB2- God Bless, Go BAKE!!!

Peach Pie

2012-08-07T23:10:00.000-07:00

While visiting family back in PA, I had the awesome, wonderful, stupendous opportunity to watch and document my Aunt Lori baking her famous peach pie! Aunt Lori is a good cook and that's a good thing because she has 3 hungry guys in her house to feed. She's very neat like my Grandma and makes things so perfectly.

Famous Chambersburg, PA peaches!

When I Googled peach pie there were around 10 blogs solely devoted to coming up with dozens of ways to make peach pie.

We both decided, really quickly, that we would rely on blender power!

I loved baking with my Aunt Lori, but she had a rule, "only pictures of the food please."
But I managed to get a shot of her hand. =)

1,2,3...wait a second, 4,5.
It took awhile for my camera to work but at least everyone was smiling.
Aunt Lori's family enjoying delicious peach pie while watching
the tractor pull at the Shippensburg Fair!


Soothing peach pie and thunderous tractors - what a combination!

Ingredients:
10 inch pie crust (unbaked)
1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 egg beaten
2 1/2 cup fresh peaches

Combine and mix ingredients until smooth (except peaches). Add peaches to mixture and pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Streusel topping
1/2 cup flour
4 Tbsp. butter (soft)
6 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix with a fork. Put on hot pie. Put a few chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, or almonds) on top; return to oven for 10 minutes.

There were a lot of us there, so everyone got a small piece.

While at the fair we won three goldfish, but unfortunately they didn't live very long. We couldn't help but give them silly names like Plunger, Flushy, and T.P. We had fun with them while they were around but sadly they died on the second day. Well maybe they ended up in the ocean, that's where Nemo went...right?

GB2- God Bless, Go BAKE!!!

No Wait Sticky Buns

2012-08-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

Everyone loves the idea of a warm bun, whether sticky, slimy, gooey, or crispy. It sounds so good but it's definitely not that way for the baker. When I think of these buns, I imagine rolling, waiting, messes, and more waiting. Fortunately my grandmother always has the best time saving recipes. =)

I loved having someone else show me their recipe. All I had to do was take the pictures!

The leaning tower of Pillsbury biscuits.

"No pressure Grandma!"

My grandmother is the neatest person I know. Hopefully I got a few of those genes. =)

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon
2 cans (17.3 g) refrigerated Pillsbury biscuits (The crescent ones will not work!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine brown sugar, butter and corn syrup in medium saucepan. Cook on low to medium heat until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted. Add chopped pecans and stir. Carefully pour mixture into an ungreased 9x13 pan.

2. Cut buns in half, and roll in cinnamon sugar until all sides are covered. Place cut side down in pan, bake for 25- 30 min. Take buns out and wait at least 5 minutes before flipping over onto a big sheet of aluminum foil.

Have you ever tried a new dessert and fell in love with it? You know the one that's always on your mind, but you just don't make it, then a few years later you finally give in and make it and you wonder why on earth you didn't make it sooner.

Warning: Please don't do that with this recipe. It's too good to wait too many years before you make it. =)

GB2- God Bless, Go BAKE!!!

Grammie's Baked Mac and Cheese

2012-07-31T09:09:00.000-07:00

Macaroni and cheese is one of those dishes that nearly everyone seems to love. It is so simple, just some pasta and cheese but we never seem to get tired of it. The rich and creamy flavor with a golden crisp top, mac and cheese is amazing. Great for a side dish, but it's also satisfying as dinner on its own. We can also use it for inspiration to build something totally different. =)

Boiling the water, it requires patience and more patience.

The cheese.

The baker and her whittle apprentice, trying not to get banished for being rather messy at times. =)

Everyone has their adaptations and his is ketchup.
I highly...do not recommend this.

My grandmother doesn't really follow a recipe for this, so I tried to make note of the measurements and ingredients while she baked. It can be a bit tricky until you've practiced a lot. As Grandma said..."It's sort of like making a pie crust, you can type out all the ingredients and instructions but you really have to get a feel for it to make it right." Sounds like "practice makes perfect" to me.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup elbow macaroni

3 Tbsp. butter

1/3 cup flour

1 1/8 cup milk

2 1/2 cups shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill pot 1/3 way with water, bring to a boil and add 1 1/2 cup elbow macaroni and boil until tender.

2. In medium saucepan, melt 3 Tbsp. butter then add 1/4 cup flour and whisk, then add 1 1/4 cup milk. Stir until nice and consistent.

3. Drain macaroni and pour into buttered pan. Pour on the cheese mixture and fold until everything is covered, sprinkle 2 cups of cheddar cheese and bake for 45 min.

It's good to be back in California, but I still miss PA and all my family, friends, 3 fishes (that my cousins and brother won at the fair, and got flushed...after 2 days) and all the yummy food.

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!!!

Almond Toffee Brickle

2012-07-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

This summer has been great, but it's not over...yet. So while it's still summer we have a chance to try something new and with a couple of guests too. Guess who??? I'm starting to sound like Dr. Seuss. I guess I'm a poet and I don't know it. Anyway my three guests were my cousin (who's one year old), my aunt, and my mother. It made for a lovely day of ohhhh look at the baby laugh when Grace spills something. She was very distracting. =)

The Ingredients

BTW, you don't need 4 sticks of butter, these sticks were only 1/4 cup.

My aunt pouring the ooey gooey mixture.

We had a wonderful audience...
until someone got distracted by a CA orange. =)

Ingredients:
40 saltine crackers
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter ( 2 sticks )
12 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped almonds
Created by: Debbie Calhoun, Big Pool PA

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover bottom and sides of jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Place crackers side by side, not overlapping. Set aside.

2. Melt butter in saucepan. Add brown sugar, and bring to a rolling boil. Boil exactly 3 minutes; stir often. Remove from heat and pour immediately over saltines. Bake for 5 minutes at 400 degrees.

3. Take out of oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Allow chocolate to melt a few minutes, then spread evenly. Remove foil and break (do not cut) into small pieces. Store in refrigerator in plastic containers.

I had so much fun making this recipe with my aunt and our audience carefully watching us, making sure nothing was spilled. In the end everything turned out wonderfully and was eaten up as quickly as we made it.

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!!!

Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

2012-07-19T07:12:00.001-07:00

It looks like this recipe needs some taste testing. =)

You know sometimes too much of a good thing...isn't a good thing. Like when you're at a potluck in front of an array of desserts like People Chow, brownies, cake, and these wonderful Raspberry Cheesecake Bars and you just can't decide which one to eat. You want to try them all but you don't want to stuff yourself! So that's when it's great to be the "baking apprentice" because then instead of pigging out you can just say you're "taste-testing" for your blog. We bakers have to make sure there are no loose eggshells or any other unidentified objects in there. Then after "taste-testing" you can pass on the leftovers to your Dad because he'll usually eat anything.

Sorry, no ingredient picture this time, just some flour.

BTW, there is a biiiig difference between jam and jelly. (At least I think there is, I might have to do some research on that one or have a talk with my Grandma.)
(Jelly is the most fun though, because jam is always, well...in a jam.)
jk

Before...

and after.
(Someone in my family got a hold of these before I could get a picture of the whole pan.)

Tweaks, Twists, and Tips...
I didn't have any raspberry jam, so I decided to use strawberry jam and fresh raspberries mashed up and it tasted fine. I would suggest blending the filling, otherwise you get little chunks of cream cheese in the bars.

And you can find this delicious recipe right here!

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!!!

Blueberry Pancakes

2012-07-13T18:35:00.000-07:00

Number 1 pancakes for a number 1 winner.
Pretty impressive since he just started practicing a few weeks ago.

Today, or at least what was today, (7/7/12) was a looong day. I got up early and got myself ready to run a whopping 1 mile race. For some of us that's our worst nightmare. 5,280 feet is a looong way. For others it's a piece of cake, or maybe a piece of pancake. For my cousin it sure was, he ran a mile in only 5:42. As for me, you don't really want to know my time, but I will tell you about the delicious pancakes that my cousin made for us after the race...

The Ingredients - Notice my Aunt Lori's cute tablecloth.
I'm blogging from another kitchen today!

It took me awhile to explain exactly why I had to take the bowl outside.

The rule for my baking partner was to pretend I wasn't there, which didn't work very well.
He kept bumping into me...sigh....at least he tried.

chomp, chomp, chomp

Ingredients:

1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 cups "Baker's Corner Baking Mix"
1 1/3 cups milk
A desirable amount of blueberries, chocolate chips, or bananas.

Directions:

Heat griddle or electric skillet to 400 degrees. If using a frying pan over top of range, set to medium-high temperature. Melt a little bit of butter on the pan, so the pancakes don't stick. Cooking surface is ready when a few drops of water boil and disappear when sprinkled on the surface.

Stir all ingredients together until smooth. Pour slightly less than 1/4 cup of batter onto the cooking surface. Cook until bubbles form on the surface (about one minute). Turn and cook until bottom color matches top (about one minute).

"What I say is true - anyone can cook...but only the fearless can be great." (a quote from Ratatouille) So I searched Pinterest and found a couple of pancake recipes that were obviously made by the "fearless", one for him and one for her. Why not give them a try...

Bacon Pancakes...sweet and...savory?

This is a little more dainty and ladylike, very cute!

GB2- God Bless, Go BAKE!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars/Bricks

2012-07-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

Let's go back to the basics. Don't worry you can still keep your cell phone and Blackberry or raspberry or whatever it's called. But let's skip all the French stuff like creme brulee, eclairs, tiramisu, and anything else that may be hard to pronounce. Today we're talking about cookies, just plain old cookies, and the most basic of all...chocolate chip cookies. No folding, bending, stretching, or hurting yourself trying to stir the dough. We're just going to mix and plop! It's simple, even simpler than a raspberry or whatever that phone is called...oh right a Blackberry.

The MVIs
{Most valuable Ingredients}

I (finally) got my sister to help me pour stuff in so I could take pictures.
She was a good little apprentice. =)

I made sure she used both hands and didn't drop any eggshells.

If you want to keep your hands clean and save time, you could use a jelly pan.

I almost thought about playing Jenga with this tower.

The cookies turned out really nice in the jelly roll pan....but they got a bit over baked. So my family renamed them chocolate chip bricks. They were still good, just a bit crunchy. No one chipped a tooth or anything like that.

Here's the recipe. It's usually on the back of the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip bags.

GB2- God Bless. Go BAKE!!!

Red, White, and Blue Bundt Cake

2012-07-05T09:23:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know, I'm a day late on the red, white, and blue, but I have a good excuse (sort of). I didn't really have access to a computer yesterday so better late than never! Actually rather than being a day late, you could also consider it 364 days early!!! =)

Happy Birthday/ Fourth of July, America!!!

The Ingredients

Trust me there is a layer of white in there.

Roses are red, Violets are blue.
I love to show off my red, white, and blue!


The reddish-pink sort of ruined it. =/

And here's the recipe.
I'm now officially done with red, white, and blue recipes. And I'm off to try some east coast recipes. I may even invite a few guest bloggers too. Stay tuned!

BTW, I hope you had a chance to see some fireworks this week. I saw a lot and from a really good seat too. Flying over fireworks was amazing!!!

GB2- God Bless, Go Bake!!!

Trail Mix Cookies

2012-07-01T21:22:00.001-07:00

Like I said, they're surprisingly good. =)

I'm not really a hiker, I'm more of a runner, biker, walker, or swimmer... not a hiker. There's not a whole lot I like about hiking except for trail mix. I could easily go on a hike if you bribed me with trail mix. Although you wouldn't have any M&M's left after you handed me the bag. But.... I've found a solution to me not taking all the M&M's. It's called trail mix cookies, and surprisingly...they're really good!

The Ingredients


Make sure to use whole wheat flour, otherwise your cookie may not be whole.... without the whole wheat flour.

I think the cookie monster would be pretty impressed with these ingredients

More great recipes at Joy's Website.

Ingredients
2 1/2 C. old-fashioned oats
1 C. all-purpose flour
1 C. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 C. (2 sticks) unsalted butter - softened
1 C. granulated sugar
1 C. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C. peanut butter chips
1 C. M&Ms candy
1 C. roasted, salted peanuts
1/2 C. golden raisins

Directions

1. Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (or just spray with non-stick spray) and set aside.

2.In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flours, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

3. With an electric mixer, beat together the sugars and softened butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on medium speed for about a minute after each addition. Stop and scrape the bowl as necessary. Add in the vanilla and beat until thoroughly incorporated.

4. Stop the mixer and add the flour mixture all at once. Beat on low speed until just incorporated. Add the peanut butter chips, M&Ms, peanuts, and raisins. Finish mixing together by hand, so as to not over-mix. Roll tablespoonfuls into balls (or use a cookie scoop) and place on baking sheets. Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes on the cookie sheets, then finish cooling on wire racks.

Twists, Tricks, and Tips:

I used a combination of salted and unsalted butter and it turned out fine. I also used regular raisins instead of golden. I didn't have any salty peanuts around, so I crushed 1/2 cup of walnuts. I also substituted peanut butter chips, for butterscotch.

GB2- God Bless, Go BAKE!!!