The normal process for posts here for me is make the recipe forget to photograph it or decide not to because it’s 10:30 at night when you decide to start making noise in the kitchen. Then, after finding out that the thing I just made is utterly delicious and I have to share it with you guys I make it again but this time over the weekend when I have enough daylight to take pictures. These lemon bars were a rare exception to the standard as I photographed the process and the final product and enjoyed them the first time making it.

Now let be honest with you for a second. This post was started 17 days ago (for those of you bad at math that would be July 2) and I’m just now continuing it. So the process for me posting entries here goes as follows as above but then there might be a little “road bump” in which I completely lose inspiration for the post because it may be a couple days after I made the delicious thing in the post. I just now got inspired (more like bored) to finish writing this for a couple reasons.

The first and probably the only because the rest I’m just going to make up is that I have about five or more recipes photographed that I want to post here but can’t because I want to finish this post (yay for run-on sentences). I sometimes randomly go through my iPhoto library for my camera and am completely dumbstruck at how many food pictures I have that I havent even uploaded to flickr.

The other reason being I really want Nifty Fifty to grow and actually be a food blog many (I’m aiming for more than 100, I know, tough goal) can come to for recipes that others have tried and enjoyed. I always have high hopes for things when I start them but those fall short of what comes out in the end, but I don’t want that to happen here.

Anyway back to the lemon bars. They’re delicious and refreshing. Slightly tart and just sweet enjoy to counter that. Make them the next time you buy a box of lemons like I did. 124 lemons were juiced in the process.

Lemon Bars from alpineberry
Yields: one 8-inch square pan

Crust:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/8 tsp salt
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Filling:
2 large eggs
1 cup superfine or bakers’ sugar
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.

To make crust:
Combine flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add butter and pulse until the mixture is pebbly. Press evenly into the bottom of your prepared pan. Bake until lightly golden, about 18-20 minutes. Set aside crust.

To make filling:
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, flour and salt. Whisk in lemon zest and juice until well combined. Pour over crust (it’s okay if crust is still hot). Bake until filling is just set, about 15 to 18 minutes. Cool completely before serving. Dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired.

I know, I know. Where have I even been? Ultimately, things have been pretty crazy around the household. School is now over, but things are just as hectic. Thank goodness baking helps me cope with stress! I tried to make some pretzel bites, but that didn’t go over very well.

They looked like unicorn turds, and they weren’t tasty at all. Second batch still didn’t come out right, so I gave up on it. They tasted all right, but they still looked like unicorn turds. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be!

I still wanted to bake something, so I looked around my favorite food blogs. The moment I saw the recipe for these cupcakes, I knew I wanted to try them. I love almost anything with nuts in it, especially pecans. It sounds like a strange combination: cinnamon, pecans, bananas, and pineapple. To me though, it sounds delicious.

The smell permeating from the oven was absolutely divine, and I just knew that the cupcakes were going to be heavenly. This is what I missed from baking! The smells that fill the kitchen are comforting. And so, while the cupcakes were baking to perfection in the oven, I decided to whip up the cream cheese frosting. I planned on just using store-bought frosting, but I knew that wouldn’t quite do these cupcakes justice. They needed frosting whipped up from scratch, with lots of butter and some Philadelphia cream cheese.

They turned out so great, and it was definitely a big hit around the house. I couldn’t even eat just one! I managed to scarf down two of them before I decided to pass them around to our neighbors. I managed to make 28 regular-sized cupcakes and 12 minis. I kept the minis so I wouldn’t feel too guilty about inhaling them. Hey, you just can’t get in the way of a girl and her sweet tooth!

Hummingbird Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, from Bake or Break

Cupcakes
yields 36 regular-sized cupcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups chopped bananas
chopped pecans or sanding sugar, for garnish

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1lb confectioners sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour regular cupcake pans. Set aside.

• Combine flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add eggs and oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, pecans, and bananas.

• Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Then, remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

• Beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.

• After cupcakes are completely cooled, frost cupcakes. Garnish, if desired.

My summer vacation started last Tuesday and I’ve barely done anything. Besides the human interaction last Tuesday for two tests I haven’t been out of my house since then. Well I was yesterday but that didn’t count since it was Father’s Day. I’ve basically been sitting in front of my computer, playing Pokémon and Facebook stalking people because I obviously have no life.

This – me being anti-social – wouldn’t be a problem because I would just bake something and that would entertain me for the day, especially if I were to make bread, which I wanted to do all last week. However, due to the cosmic forces that hate me, my oven stopped working. Well the “glow plug” or whatever starts the flame initially just died. The broiler works fine but the bake setting on the oven doesn’t work. It really wasn’t the best time for it to break either as I had just finished cutting the biscuits out.

I had bought strawberries at the store anticipating making a 9″ tart using this recipe but instead decided to make strawberry shortcake as a) I was too lazy to deal with tart dough and b) I had 1 1/4 cups of heavy cream left over from some scones. After finally finding a recipe I liked and that didn’t use that much flour (I had about 2 1/2 cups left) I whipped the biscuits up really fast and sliced the strawberries to get all syrupy and delicious while I made everything else.

As I go to put the biscuits in the oven the oven doesn’t turn on. Great. I quickly forced my brother to drive me over to my grandmother’s house and I would just use her oven. She wasn’t there so I just used a spare key she gave my dad. They cooked, I ate some of her food, my brother watched tv, and all was good again.

Strawberry Shortcake Sliders adapted from Simply Recipes
Makes approximately 36 mini strawberry shortcake sliders.

Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tbsp (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter (if using salted, skip the salt in dry ingredients), cut into small cubes and chilled (freezer for 15 minutes or longer)
7/8 cup (that’s one cup minus 2 tablespoons) heavy whipping cream*
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Strawberries
2 baskets of fresh strawberries, rinsed, stems removed and discarded, sliced (1/8″ to 1/4″ thick)
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder for the biscuits. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a fork or a pastry cutter, or pulse in a food processor until the largest pieces of butter are the size of peas.

2 Use a fork to whisk together the cream, egg, and vanilla in a small bowl. Make a well in the large bowl of the flour mixture and pour the cream mixture into the center of it. Use a fork to mix until the dough is evenly moistened. The dough mixture should look shaggy. Knead the dough with your hands 8 turns or so to create a ball.

3 Lightly flour a smooth surface. Turn the dough out onto the surface and pat or roll out until it is between 1/4 and 1/2-inch thick. Use a 1 1/2-inch diameter biscuit cutter (or a juice glass) to cut out round biscuit shapes from the dough. (It helps to dip the biscuit cutter in some flour before each cut, so that the dough doesn’t stick to the form.) Place rounds on a baking sheet, space about 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart from each other. Chill for 10 minutes in the refrigerator before baking.

4 Heat oven to 425°F. Bake biscuits on middle rack for 12 minutes, or until risen and lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool.

5 While the biscuits are baking, prepare the strawberries and whipped cream. Place the sliced strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle sugar over them. Gently mix so that the sugar coats most of the strawberries. Let sit until the sugar dissolves and the strawberries release their moisture.

6 To make the whipped cream, make sure you are starting with cream that is very cold. It helps to chill the bowl first too. Use a hand mixer (you can make whipped cream in a blender, but watch out; it’s easy to over-whip the cream in a blender) to whip the cream until it just begins to firm up. Sprinkle the sugar and vanilla over the cream. Continue to whip until it is thick and holds its shape. Cover with plastic wrap and keep chilled until it’s time to assemble the mini strawberry shortcakes.

7 When the biscuits have cooled to room temperature, gently break them apart, separating the tops from the bottoms. Place a strawberry slice or two on each bottom, and place a dollop of whipped cream on top of the strawberries. Then place the top biscuit piece on top of the whipped cream. Voilá! You have your slider. Alternatively, you can serve them without the top.

* I didn’t have enough cream for both the biscuits and the whipped cream so I substituted 1/3 cup butter and 3/4 cup milk for it. What I didn’t realize was that the recipe called for 7/8 cup cream and not 1 cup. Don’t do this and end up with a wet dough and just go buy more cream.

Out of the three children my parents had, I’m the only who can cook. I’m also the middle child, that means that my older brother, about to turn 19 in August, and my younger brother, 12, are pretty clueless when it comes to the kitchen. Now, at 12 I was just beginning to make “simple” things in the kitchen; though, this included cheesecake which everyone on my mom’s side of the family swoons over during family events. My older brother asked me about two weeks ago how much butter he should use the cook (read: reheat) shrimp. That’s a weird question since there’s no EXACT amount and I would just put in enough to coat the bottom of the pan… or more if I wanted it.

Now, this pizza my brothers are obsessed with. This is the third time I made it and that’s only because I didn’t feel like taking pictures of the process, that happens a lot of the time, plus I knew I would make it again. It’s not even that hard to make, yet they still think it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever made in three and a half hours (including the hour I spent taking pictures). I tell my older brother to make the dough during the week sometime because then he can just whip it up in about 30 minutes one day during the week that he wants it. He won’t do it even though he eats basically one entire pizza.

Did I mention that this recipe makes two pizzas?

Now in the spirit of Pioneer Woman I’m going to try and do a step-by-step type thing with my dozen photos compared to her 30+ pictures. I’m just not as patient as she is, okay? Plus I have the worst location in the world to take pictures. It’s a tiny window with a sink directly in front of it. Any who, the really easy recipe.

No, of course I didn’t just upload this picture for the sake of this blog entry. Don’t click on the image to see the upload date. You won’t be it. But really don’t.

Now what you’re going to do it drizzle in the olive oil, while the machine mixes the dry ingredients.

The mixture is now going to be a little lumpy but nothing that could be help together and made into pizza. This is where you add the yeast and water that you have magically procured. Yup, those are the hands of my 12-year-old brother.

After a couple minutes of mixing your dough should look something like this. Form it into a ball, place it in an oiled bowl (or the mixer bowl that has a little spray of oil) and set aside for a couple hours, until it has doubled in size.

Now in the mean time grab your chicken pieces and coat them with barbecue sauce. Make sure you add more than I did because it only makes it taste that much more amazing.

Put that in the oven and cook till it looks something like this and is fully cooked.

Now slice your cheese. The two look different because one is fresh while the other is packaged. You should also slice the onion now but I kinda… forgot about that. You’ll notice it being gone but the pizza is still delicious without it.

If you’ve wasted enough time taking pictures your dough should be ready. Grab half of it, pinching to form a ball, and place it onto an oiled sheet pan.

Press it out to pretty thin and don’t worry about the shape, no one really cares if there’s a bump here or a tear there.

I threw it up in the air but wouldn’t suggest this as it almost landed on the floor.

Put some more barbecue sauce onto the pizza, this is like the tomato sauce on a normal pizza but more smokey and heavenly. Honestly, with this stuff and you put as much as your heart desires. I really noticed that the pizza needed more and won’t be afraid to add more next time.

The mozzarella is the first thing to go on and it doesn’t matter if there are places where it looks like there will be no cheese. Trust me, when it melts there will be cheese every where.

Then then then you get to put the chicken on. Oh right, that should be cut. I have a picture of that some where but I didn’t like it so you guys don’t get to see it. Be sure to try it and hurry up because you want to taste it all together. Just make sure that you spread it out evenly since chicken doesn’t melt, at least the brand I buy doesn’t.

Now throw it into the oven quickly because the oven is burning at 500 degrees and it’s disgustingly hot outside for no reason.

Pull it out and admire it for a second or two. Sniff it. Take a picture of it quickly. Bring it outside to take a picture because you realize you have no light in your dimly lit kitchen and just feel like tormenting your brother as you walk past him into the yard with it and your camera. Then eat it before it’s gone.

BBQ Chicken Pizza adapted from Pioneer Woman

1 whole Recipe For Pizza Crust (mine Makes Two Crusts)
2 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
½ cups Barbecue Sauce
Olive Oil, For Drizzling
Salt For Sprinkling
16 ounces, weight Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Sliced Thinly
½ whole Red Onion, Cut In Half And Sliced Very Thin
Chopped Cilantro, to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Salt chicken breasts on both sides, then place in an ovenproof dish. Pour BBQ sauce over the breasts and turn them over to coat. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is done. Remove from oven and cut into a fine dice. Set aside.

Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees.

Roll/stretch out one pizza crust. Lay it on a sheet pan drizzled with olive oil. Drizzle a little olive oil on the crust, then sprinkle on a little salt.

Spoon a couple of tablespoons of extra BBQ sauce on the crust and spread it evenly. Top sauce with half the sliced mozzarella. Sprinkle on half the diced chicken and thinly sliced red onion.

Sprinkle again with a little salt, then bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle on plenty of chopped cilantro. Cut into squares and serve immediately. Repeat with other crust and other ingredients, or save for another time.

Pioneer Woman Pizza Crust Recipe

1 teaspoon Instant Or Active Dry Yeast
1-½ cup Warm Water
4 cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
⅓ cups Olive Oil

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.

In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.

Note: it’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.

When you are ready to make the pizza, grab HALF the pizza dough (recipe makes 2 crusts) and squeeze the dough toward the bottom to form a nice, tight, pulled ball. You can roll out the pizza with a rolling pin if you’d like, but sometimes it’s just as easy to throw it around and pull and stretch till it feels right. And when the crust is nice and thin, lay it on an oiled baking sheet or pizza pan. Drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and spread it with your fingers. Very lightly sprinkle some salt on the crust.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Top your crust with your toppings of choice. Then bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.

90% of the time when I make something I post it on Facebook to make my friends jealous of my homemade bread, chocolate cake, rice crispies that they all love, and now this pudding. Well this pudding was first interpreted as cake and then something else that doesn’t even make sense. And when I posted it saying how they are all jealous of it, I put “toasted chocolate” instead of “toasted coconut”. Yeah.

I’m generally not one for chocolate but I will eat chocolate pudding and mousse. I just like how the chocolate isn’t as pronounce in those desserts. Plus pudding is really easy to make, and no I’m not talking about putting a package of chemicals flavored by chocolate into some milk and stirring. Good pudding is just milk, sugar, corn starch, and flavorings.

Before I even saw this recipe I thought I could just make any old chocolate pudding recipe into a coconut version by subbing some coconut milk for some milk. That’s pretty much what you do in this recipe. There really isn’t anything surprising in this recipe, besides the flavor.

…and toasted coconut.

Notes: I used a 13.5oz can of coconut milk and it worked fine; I was pretty sure the .5oz wouldn’t make a difference. I also subbed corn starch for the arrowroot powder because I didn’t feel like going to the health food store (but will next time to see if there is a difference). I didn’t add the curry powder. And finally, the chocolate I used was chocolate mossels so it wasn’t the best quality chocolate, but still tasted good. I can only imagine what it would taste like with good quality chocolate.

Chocolate Coconut Pudding
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1 14-ounce can of coconut milk (lite is fine), divided
3 tablespoons sugar
scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup arrowroot powder, sifted
1 teaspoon raz el hanout spice blend or curry powder, (optional)
3 tablespoons alkalized dutch-cocoa powder, sifted
1 3.5-ounce bar semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut flakes, toasted in a dry skillet

Shake the can of coconut milk vigorously for a few seconds. In a heavy saucepan bring 1 1/4 cups of the coconut milk, sugar, and the salt (just) to a simmer over low heat.

While that is heating, in a seperate bowl whisk together the remaining coconut milk, arrowroot powder, spice blend (or curry powder), and cocoa powder. It should look like a chocolate frosting.

When the coconut milk and sugar mixture has started simmering take about 1/4 cup of it and whisk it little by little into the arrowroot mixture, creating a slurry. Turn down the heat to the very lowest setting. Now drizzle the arrowroot slurry mixture into the simmering pan of coconut milk whisking vigorously all the while. Keep whisking until the pudding comes back up barely to a simmer and thickens up a bit, about a minute.

Remove the saucepan from heat, continue whisking while it is cooling for about a minute. Now whisk in the chocolate and vanilla. Keep stirring until the pudding is smooth. Place in a refrigerator to chill thoroughly. To prevent a skin from forming press plastic up against the surface of the pudding. Serve dusted with the coconut flakes and a tiny pinch of spices (orcurry powder).

I have always, always held a soft spot for deviled eggs. They were one of the first things I learned how to make as a child. Boiling eggs is not very hard, as long as you don’t forget they are on the stove! They’re easy to make, and there’s nothing better than popping a cold deviled egg in your mouth during the summer.

I usually don’t add anything other than mayonnaise and plain yellow mustard to my deviled eggs. I always hate it when people tried to “spice things up” and added some weird stuff to it. There’s nothing worse than biting into a deviled egg and tasting some onion or pickles in it. Even worse, when people make their eggs with Miracle Whip. WTF. I know many of you love it, but I don’t. I think Miracle Whip is the worst thing ever, and should be banned from kitchens everywhere.

What really got me interested in trying out this recipe, was the fact that it called for white wine vinegar. I had never thought of putting that into my deviled eggs, but I was curious. Did it make the filling taste better, or was it to help make it creamier? I hate clumps in my filling, so I always make sure to mash it to death with a fork and then a spoon for good measure.

There was nothing tricky about this recipe. I didn’t follow the directions explicitly, because let’s face it, everyone loves their deviled eggs a little bit differently. Some love mustard in it, some prefer a bit more mayo. Still, there are those that love to drown it in salt. I suggest you add the ingredients and taste it as you go. If you feel it needs more mustard, then add some more! It’s all about personal preference, in my opinion.

As for the white wine vinegar, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It had this tangy taste to it, and I couldn’t stop eating them! Yes, I admit that I ate almost the entire batch by myself. Luckily my husband came in and ate the rest! He could tell there was something different about these deviled eggs. They weren’t my usual kind, and I was impressed that his dull taste buds picked up on that.

One last note! I did pipe the filling into my eggs using a pastry bag. Two reasons for this: obviously, because piped filling looks so much better than filling just spooned in. Secondly, it made it easier to distribute the filling. I didn’t run out of filling as quickly, and there was even some left over (which made it tempting to pipe the filling straight into my mouth!). It’s your choice, really. You could always use a sandwich bag and cut a small triangle off one of the corners to pipe your filling in!

Nicole’s Best Basic Deviled Eggs, from Pinch My Salt

6 eggs, hard cooked and peeled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
3/4 teaspoon white wine vinegar
pinch of salt (optional)
fresh ground black pepper (optional)
smoked paprika (optional)

Cut eggs in half. Arrange egg whites cut side up on a serving plate and put the yolks in a small mixing bowl. Mash yolks with fork then stir in mayonnaise, mustard, and vinegar. Mash and stir all ingredients together well. Taste and add salt and pepper if desired. Spoon a little bit of the mixture into each egg white half, dividing mixture as evenly as possible between the eggs. Sprinkle eggs with smoked paprika if desired. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

When I was younger, I wouldn’t go near rice pudding. I thought it was such a stupid concept. The idea of buttery chicken flavored rice with milk and sugar disgusted me. My dad would always love eating it and sometimes tried to make me taste it, but I refused. I wish I hadn’t.

It wasn’t until I tasted my great uncle’s rice pudding that I fell in love. Now, his recipe is a lot more calorie intense, having half-and-half instead of milk along with a whole bunch of eggs. Of course that would make the dessert that much more rich and creamy. I actually plan on adding an egg to the next batch I make to see if I can make this even better.

The recipe is extremely simple and quite quick to make. You basically but the rice, sugar, and milk into the pot, stir occasionally while you boil (then simmer) for about an hour. You taste the rice to check for doneness and try not to burn your tongue every time like I do. Then you enjoy the creamy dessert that this is.

You can use arborio or river rice to make this pudding. The arborio rice is a little more creamy in my opinion, but it’s also almost four times as expensive as the river rice. You don’t use that much so I tend to just use the arborio since I can get it for $4.09 at the local health food store.

Arborio Rice Pudding adapted from smitten kitchen

1/2 cup Arborio or River rice
4 cups milk
3/8 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, place all the ingredients, except the vanilla extract. Bring it to a gentle boil and then turn it down to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking to the bottom, for about 30 to 40 minutes. Taste the rice to check for doneness. The rice should be very soft and plump.

Take the pudding off the heat and stir in the extract. Pour into dessert bowls and sprinkle with cinnamon. Serve immediately.

Yes, these biscuits are definitely sticky. I knew I had to try this recipe the moment I first saw them. You could say it was love at first sight. Truth to be told, I’ve always loved desserts that left my fingers sticky. It reminds me of being a kid and licking that sweet goo from each finger.

That being said, I did find myself teetering back and forth on whether or not to actually make them. I knew that I wanted to, but like Vasili, I find it difficult to use quite a bit of butter for just one recipe. This particular recipe called for 2 1/4 cups of butter. :O

In the end, I decided to just go for it. You only live once, and I could always buy more butter later on. I wanted to at least give these a try. The recipe was rather easy to make. I had quite a lot of fun kneading the dough and flattening it out.

Though next time, I think I’ll skip the cutting. I think it would make it much easier if you just left it uncut and have your guests cut their own piece. The trickiest part to the whole thing (and really, it wasn’t even tricky at all) was flipping the biscuits upside down onto a serving plate. I didn’t actually have a serving plate big enough for the biscuits, so I just put some foil down on my cookie sheet and used that instead.

I recommend eating these while they are still fresh out of the oven. The topping tends to harden a bit after a while (not rock hard, mind you). However, you can always pop these babies in the microwave for about fifteen seconds on high. That should warm up the biscuit and soften up the pecan topping. I think I’ll be having another one of these for breakfast tomorrow with some coffee!

Quick Sticky Biscuits , adapted from Bake or Break

Yields: 12 servings

Pecan Sauce
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 & 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1. Spray a 9″x 13″ pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Place brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a saucepan. Cook over low heat. When butter is melted, increase heat to medium-high and bring to a gentle boil. Cook 3-5 minutes, or until thickened. Stir in pecans. Pour into pan and spread evenly. Set aside.

Biscuits
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup very cold or frozen unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
1 & 1/2 to 2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Sift together twice the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender. Blend until mixture mostly looks like coarse crumbs, with some of the butter the size of small peas.

3. Make a shallow well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour in 1 & 1/2 cups of buttermilk. Blend together using a fork, or a mixer using the paddle attachment on low speed. If dough is too dry, add the remaining 1/2 cup of buttermilk as needed.

4. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead a few times, then pat into a 3/4-inch thick rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 square biscuits.

Topping
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1. Stir together sugar and cinnamon. Brush the tops of the biscuits with about half of the melted butter. Sprinkle with about half of the cinnamon-sugar.

2. Place the biscuits, cinnamon-sugar side down into the pan. Brush the tops (that were the bottoms) of the biscuits with remaining butter and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar.

3. Bake about 15-17 minutes. The biscuits should be golden brown and puffy, and the pecan sauce should be bubbling around the biscuits.

4. Cool slightly (for about five minutes), then invert onto a serving plate. Remove pan to allow sauce to fall around the biscuits. Scrape any remaining sauce from the pan onto the biscuits. Serve immediately.

I refound my love for baking back in September; I didn’t have my shiny D90 so those recipes will just be memories. Soon after I began baking heavily again, I found out that one 9×2″ round cake pan will yield about a dozen cupcakes. This meant that a standard layered cake recipe would give me two dozen, the normal dose for a box cake. But I just couldn’t bring myself to using 1 stick of butter for a dozen cupcakes and then another stick of butter for the frosting. It just seemed like so much butter for such little desserts.

Of course the butter is going to give the cake more flavor and make it that much more rich. I’ll use a normal layered cake recipe if I were going to make a birthday/celebration cake, but for cupcakes I have a new go to recipe.

I found it on Joy the Baker. It’s amazing. The cake is delicious and the icing is so sweet and smooth. The only thing left for me to do to this recipe is make a chocolate version of it. And no, making the frosting chocolate does not count.

There is one thing about this recipe that bothers me. I can’t seem to make the 12 cupcakes it says it makes. Both times I’ve made this, I wound up having ten cupcakes. This is fine and dandy, but I would like my two extra cupcakes. I didn’t really notice until today, when I was measuring the batter out into each cup, that even 1/4 cup was too much. I could have probably went with just a little under. Then I might have been able to get the dozen it says I should.

Really, what kind of witch is cursing me?! Is my baking powder really strong? Do I add too much (I always do)? Is is because my butter was almost liquid? I really can’t explain. Next time I make this recipe I’ll force myself to divide the batter into 12 cups, no matter how little is in each.

Oh, and when you’re making the frosting, put it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes before using it to just harden it up a little. And if you mess up on the cupcake, you can just scrape it off and start again (assuming you care what they look like)! If you plan on taking a picture of these cupcakes, note the color so you don’t wind up with a horrible neon color.

Vanilla Cupcakes
Adapted from Joy the Baker who adapted it from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Yields 12 (apparently, but I get 10)

1 cup all-purpose flour
scant 3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt [never even knew that was in this recipe!]
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or use a handheld beater and beat on slow speed until the mixture is a sandy consistency and everything is combined. Gradually pour in half of the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.

Whisk the egg, vanilla and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated. Scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side or the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Continue mixing until the batter is smooth. Just a few minutes. Do not overmix.

Spoon the batter into paper lined muffin tins, dividing between the 12 cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool slightly in the pan, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream

Yields enough for 12 cupcakes. Double the recipe if you need to frost an 8″ cake.

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the powdered sugar and butter together in an electric mixer fit with a paddle attachment on medium low speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Turn the mixer speed to low. Combine the milk and the vanilla extract and slowly stream it into the butter and sugar mixture. Once incorporated, turn the mixer to high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes. If you find that your frosting is getting to warm in the summer months, stop beating and set in the fridge for a few minutes. Once chilled, hook the frosting back up the the mixer and beat once more until you reach the desired consistency.

Pizza, such a universal food. You can find it almost anywhere in the world, but with different toppings on it. Each person has their personal favorite; mine is black olives and/or BBQ chicken. Mmmm. My younger cousin and I shared a whole BBQ chicken and black olive pizza. I love having family who love the same foods as me. However, sometimes you want a unique pizza. Can you get any more, odd as my mom put it, than a starch on top of the pizza?

I decided to make the pizza because I needed to have a cheese- and other-dairy-goods-free pizza. The first time I made this recipe, it was pretty good but not that great. The second time around was better because I actually let the dough rise (I was impatient before), and cut the onions differently.

I would love to make this recipe with Yukon Gold potatoes. The Russets I’ve been using are fine but Yukons would make this taste sooo much better. They’re buttery flavor and yellow color are just so delicious. One thing that makes this pizza taste better is add a few grinds of pepper right before/after the oven.

Jim Lahey’s Potato Pizza
Adapted from smitten kitchen

Makes two 8-inch pizzas or one 14-inch pizza

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 cup cold water
Olive oil, for bowl and pans
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
2 potatoes, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1/2 onion, diced into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh rosemary (optional) [I subbed this for oregano because the inner Greek in me was yelling to get out]

1. Combine flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer, and slowly add 1 cup cold water. Mix on low speed until ingredients begin to combine. Switch to a dough hook and continue to mix for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic and cleanly pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl.

2. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and allow to rest for 2 to 4 hours until it has doubled in size. Split the dough into halves, and form each into a log. Place each log on a generously floured surface, and allow it to rest until the formed dough doubles in size again, at least 1 hour.

3. While the dough rises for the second time, repare the potato topping. Slice potatoes very thin using a knife or a mandoline. Then soak them in several changes of ice water to remove excess starch and prevent discoloration. Drain slices in a colander, toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt, and set aside for 10 minutes. Drain any accumulated water. In a medium bowl, combine potatoes, onions, and 1 tablespoon olive oil, and set aside.

4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare two rimmed baking sheets with vegetable oil. Divide dough in half. Place each piece on its own baking sheet. Using the palms of your hands, flatten dough out to the edges of the pan. Evenly spread potatoes over the surface of the dough up to the very edge, or about 1 inch from the edge if you desire a crust on your pizza. Season with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil. Sprinkle with rosemary if using.

5. Bake potato pizza until it has shrunk away from the edges of a pan and the bottom is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to cool slightly; slice into pieces, and serve. Potato pizza is also delicious served at room temperature.