TWD: Kugelhopf

Some things in life are worth 5+ hours of your time. This cake... is not one of them. I mean, for chrissakes, I ran a marathon this weekend in less time than it took for this damn cake to be prepared and finished.

Yolanda The All Purpose Girl, chose this recipe for Tuesdays With Dorie and bless her heart... but she picked a doozy. I mean, I dont know... maybe it's just me... maybe I'm the only one who felt like there was a crap-load of effort put into this crummy cake/bread.

Okay, okay... enough whining... I'm just grouchy cause I didn't read the recipe till late on Sunday and it was just so freaking time consuming. Ugh. (Apparently I'm not a yeast bread kind of gal).

I halved the recipe and put it in heart shaped, mini-muffin cups since I don't own a Kugelhopf pan or even a bundt pan. And I can assure you, I will NEVER own a kugelhopf pan. (Even though its a kick ass word to say!). I also omitted the raisins/currants and added nutmeg (I know, I'm shocked, too) to the dough. And since I had little mini muffins... I dunked the kugelhopf muffins into butter and then rolled them around in cinnamon sugar... and even that couldn't really save them. Oh well.

Caramel Butter Bars

"It happens sometimes... friends come in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant."

--Gordie from Stand By Me

I've never been the type to have lots of friends. Actually, I find the idea of having lots of friends simultaneously to be kind of stressful. I mean... how do people have the time to spread themselves around to lots of different friends? I suspect the people who do, are less of the homebody type than I am.

I've always had a few close friends. My first best friend was Lisa McBroom. We met in the daycare at the fitness center that our mom's belonged to. We were lucky enough to be put into the same kindergarten class and our friendship continued to grow through the next few years. Her family eventually moved and I eventually went through a large group of close girl friends and guy friends through the years. But only a handful remain. And these are the friends that I consider my true blue, tested and weathered best friends: Stephanie, April, Jeff, Sara, and Leigh. These are my peeps. These are the friends who share my awesome times and my not so awesome times. The people I trust and love like family.

But you know what sucks? Their geography... Steph's in Portland, April's in Memphis, Jeff's in Baltimore, Sara's in Louisville, and Leigh's in Columbia, SC. I mean... bloody hell! Do you know how shitty it is to have a network of such amazing friends... but not have the ability to call any of them up and be like.. "yo, let's grab a burrito... or go to a movie... or get drunk tonight, cause there's nothing better to do?" Yeah. Let me tell you... it sucks.

But... a couple of weekends ago... that changed! Just the other night I was able to text my friend Sara and be like.. "what up? Let's grab dinner." and she called back (cause, girls not a texter... I'm working on her though... give me some time) and we went to dinner, because she moved to Nashville!!!! And not only did she move to Nashville, she's living like 2 miles away from me! Woop Woop!

It's great to have her here! And to welcome her, I wanted to bake her something yummy.

Now, I know Sara REALLY well. And I know that her favorite candy bar is the Milky Way. So, I definitely wanted to make her something that was very caramely and gooey and yummy.

This recipe immediately popped out at me. It came together really easily and turned out pretty tasty. But... honestly... it needs chocolate. I mean, it REALLY needs chocolate. It's like eating just the peanut butter side of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's good, but it's blatantly missing it's rightful partner. So, I will make this again, but I will sprinkly chocolate chips over the caramel layer.

The Stand By Me quote I referenced above is true... some people do come in and out of lives like busboys... but if you're lucky like me... you'll have a few really true friends that stick with you forever. (And hopefully you'll eventually succeed in convincing them all to move to Nashville to be close to you, cause you're selfish like that. 1 down, 4 to go...) :)

Gooey Caramel Butter Bars
From Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey, by Jill O’Connor

These bars are delicious and I consider the crust to be an awesome base for other fillings. Mainly fillings that have chocolate in them. So, if you're making these bars.... I suggest throwing in some chocolate chips, some heath toffee bits, or something to add to the salty, chewiness of the caramel.

For the Crust:
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

For the Filling:
1 bag (14 ounces) caramel candies (about 50 individual caramels), unwrapped
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons dark rum (optional)
Pinch of salt
1 cup pecans or walnuts (optional)

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

Directions:

To make the crust: in a large bowl, combine the butter and sugars. Using an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat together until creamy. Add the vanilla and salt and beat until combined. Sift the flour into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until a smooth, soft dough forms.
Spray a 9 by 13 inch baking pan lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Press one-third of the dough evenly into the pan to form a bottom crust. Pat the remaining dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Bake until firm and the edges are a pale golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
While the bottom crust is baking and remaining dough is chilling, make the caramel filling: Place the unwrapped caramels in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the cream, vanilla, rum (if using), and salt. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth. If caramels are not completely melted, microwave on high for 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth.

Sprinkle the nuts (if using) over the bottom crust. Pour the caramel filling over the nuts, using a small metal spatula to nudge the filling evenly over the crust. Remove the remaining chilled dough from the refrigerator and crumble it even over the caramel. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is bubble and the crumbled shortbread topping is firm and lightly golden, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Use a sharp knife to cut the bars evenly into 15 large squares. Remove the bars from the pan with a metal spatula and, if desired, cut in half on the diagonal to form 30 triangular bars. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.

The bars will keep, covered tightly at room temperature, for about 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Pumpkin Bread

Ok, so I realize... I've become one of those bloggers that I used to hate. I am posting two pumpkin recipes in the span of 8 days. Sue me.

But, it turns out... that pumpkin, nutmeg, etc... well, they aren't the nasty tasting foods that I thought they were. My bad.

I had a half can of pumpkin puree hanging out in my fridge leftover from last week'sTuesdays with Dorie recipe and I asked my friend Steph for her favorite pumpkin bread recipe.

She sent me to a link from Allrecipes.com that seriously had like a zillion awesome reviews. This is some bread, apparently.

I made some changes to make it a wee bit healthier. I plugged the changes into a nutrition calculator and came up with 191 calories (50 from fat) per serving. Those changes were:

Halved the oil with unsweetened applesauce
Used Splenda for 1/3 of the sugar in the recipe.

It turned out great with those changes. Sweet and moist (just how I like my bread!). I will be trying this recipe again and I might try the 89 calorie/serving version: all splenda and all applesauce. If I do, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread.

TWD: Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

Now, here's a Tuesdays with Dorie recipe that I can get behind. Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Glaze chosen by Clara of I heart food 4 thought. Clara suggested that we might all decorate these cupcakes for halloween! Which is a GREAT idea. But... I had an even better idea...
With their rich, dark color, they were perfect for a Gamecock Tailgate! Check. It. Out. Our sweet ass tailgate set-up for the South Carolina vs. Ole Miss game (wayyy back on Oct. 4th). My intention was to decorate these cupcakes with South Carolina themed decorations... but, I didn't have the time. (It's probably for the best though... my decorating skills SUCK).

Instead of the glaze that Dorie had in the book, I used some leftover Dark Chocolate Frosting that I had in the freezer to decorate with.

These cupcakes are great! I find it very hard to mess up Chocolate cake recipes (don't even talk to me about any kind of vanilla or butter cake recipe... they ALWAYS jack up for me). They are flavorful and tender... moist and delicious!

Check out Clara's blog for the recipe!

Here is the recipe that I used for the frosting:

Especially Dark Chocolate Frosting
(from the back of the Special Dark Hershey's cocoa box)

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup Special Dark Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk (might need more)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to a spreading consistency. Add small amount of additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups of frosting.

BFB: Scotcheroos

Okay, so the best thing about this recipe? Is that it has reawakened my absolute love and devotion to rice krispies. Since I bought the first box of rice krispies last thursday night, to this morning when I polished off my second box, I have become a rice krispies addict. Like, seriously... WTF? Who knew that rice krispies... a little splenda (okay, a LOT of splenda) and some milk could join together and create pure tastebud nirvana? OH. MY. GOD. It's heaven in a bowl (or a big ass plastic cup, when I run out of bowls).

Digressing, (because as I write this, I'm starting to crave a bowl)... Steph and I chose to make Scotcheroos (not only because they look delicious, but also because I requested a recipe that I could use up some butterscotch chips I had lying around) for our next Best Friends Baking dish.

Now, I've made Scotcheroos before. And I remembered them being kind of ooey-gooey and peanut buttery and delicious, so I was pretty excited about this recipe.

I must say though... that this recipe for Scotcheroos was just... okay. I mean, instead of ooey-gooey, they kind of turned into brick-like. If you like the standard, crunchier rice krispie treats, then this recipe is probably right up your alley. But, if you prefer a looser, gooey-er treat, then you might want to try my other recipe (the only difference is the other recipe calls for brown sugar, instead of granulated...).

Regardless, these were tasty. I found myself continually cutting off portions of it and snacking on it.

Chocolate Scotcheroos
Makes about 24 bars

So, when a recipe has peanut butter in it, I expect it to taste peanut buttery... and even though I basically doubled the peanut butter in this recipe, it still wasn't peanut buttery enough for me. I'm not sure how to fix that. I'm afraid if I add more than double the amount of peanut butter, that the bars won't turn out right because of the proportions of the other ingredients. Maybe in the future, I'll experiment with adding some peanut butter to the top layer or something. Not sure.

Ingredients:
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups rice krispies cereal
1 package semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 package butterscotch morsels
Vegetable cooking spray

Measure corn syrup and sugar into large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat.

Stir in peanut butter; mix well. Add rice krispie cereal. Stir until well coated. Press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Set aside.

Melt chocolate and butterscotch morsels together in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over cereal mixture. Let stand until firm. Cut into bars when cool.

TWD: Pumpkin Muffins

This is the time of year that as I peruse through various other foodie blogs, I usually end up saying to myself.... "ewwwww..." because every freaking blog out there loves pumpkin recipes and puts like a gazillion pumpkin recipes on their blogs. Pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cakes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin. And for someone who doesn't like pumpkin flavored anything... this is all very disappointing.

So, when Kelly of Sounding my Barbaric Gulp picked this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe... Pumpkin Muffins, I just threw my hands up in the air and said... what the hell... I'll give these a whirl.

You see... my hope was that I just thought that I didn't like pumpkin. As a kid... we never had pumpkin pie or pumpkin anything... and the smell of nutmeg, cloves, etc... just doesn't do it for me. So, I just always assumed that all things pumpkin were... well... gross. But, I couldn't actually remember a time when I've had anything pumpkin. And I adore spice cake flavors, so it only makes sense that I'd like pumpkin (yes, even with nutmeg, which I realize I've sworn off on here many times before, I realize that maybe I've given nutmeg a bad name for nothing). So... it was time to test out my taste buds.

For this recipe, I went ahead and bought some whole nutmeg and some whole cloves. I mean... if I'm going all out... I might as well go all out in style, right?

The recipe came together very quickly... but I will say this.... it's really hard to measure cloves and nutmeg when you are grinding whole ones with a microplane. Any tips?

The verdict? Well... first let me say... that I didnt think these were overwhelmingly pumpkin-y. They were very mild in flavor (I probably didn't get enough of the spices in there), but they were some of the best muffins I've ever made. Very moist with a tender crumb. They could have been a little sweeter for my tastes (I mean, I realize... it's a muffin, it's not supposed to be a cake, but... what can I say, I've got one helluva sweet tooth). But the flavor was pleasant. And so, I've decided to expand my horizons and give some other pumpkin, nutmeg, clove recipes a try in the future!

Because of the muffins mild flavor.... I whipped up a little bourbon glaze: bourbon, confectioners sugar and melted butter and drizzled over them to jazz them up. (And jazz them up, it did!).

So, if you want to make these, check out Kelly's Blog for the recipe. Thanks Kelly for showing me that I don't have to shun pumpkin anymore!

Lemon Bars

I think it's awesome (and usually dangerous to your diet) the way food can link you to memories of people or particular moments of your life. A lot of my favorite foods remind me of people or places that I love... Pecan Pie: My Aunt Rita. Outback's Cheese Fries: College. Grandma Cookies: My childhood. Coconut Cake: My Paternal Grandma. Chili-Cheese Dip: Tailgating. And Lemon-flavored anything: My Maternal Grandma.

My Grandma B. loved all things lemon. And every year, her birthday usually coincided with the big family reunion in October. I can remember my mom cooking all day and night on the Friday before... and one of the things she always made was specifically for my Grandma: a lemon bundt cake with a lemon glaze. The cake was from a box mix, but damn was it good. Moist and sweet and lemony, it was the only time I really ever had anything lemon-y like that and I loved it.

My Grandma B passed away when I was a senior in high school. Before she passed, she was living with us for a couple of years... and in my selfish, teenage angst I think I subconsciously resented her for taking away attention from me (I know, it sounds terrible... but when you're a teenager you think that the world completely revolves around you) and I'm sad that I never really got to know her as a person... I really only knew her as my grandma with the uncomfortable couches, chickens that pooped everywhere, and constantly churning milk in the kitchen. I think as adults, she and I would have gotten along really well.

She was a very strong, independent woman... she wasn't necessarily sweet and demure like you think of most grandmothers, she was fiery and passionate and you always knew where you stood with her. As a child... I didn't appreciate those qualities... but as a woman of 28, I understand her a little more and I definitely feel like I've acquired a lot of the same qualities.

Her birthday is today... and while I didn't make a lemon cake, I did make these lemon bars a few weeks ago in her honor. They are absolutely delicious and definitely the best lemon bars I've ever had. It's funny how her favorite dessert is representative of her personality... sassy and tangy at the onset... but sweet and smooth for the finish. If you're looking for your go to lemon bar recipe, look no further... Anna at Cookie Madness found them.

Possibly The Best Ever Lemon Squares

It looks like the original source of this recipe was a Cooks Illustrated recipe. But, Anna at Cookie Madness made some changes, click the link above to see her post and recipe (and to check out her blog, cause it's awesome).

This recipe is everything that a lemon bar recipe should be: the filling is lemony and creamy and oh so smooth and rich and the crust is buttery and crunchy with a hint of saltiness that compliments the sweet tanginess of the filling.

A word on the crust: it will look like it's just flour pressed into the pan... but fear not... as it blind bakes in the oven the butter will melt and meld the crust together. I also poured the filling over the hot (not just warm) crust and it turned it out perfect (it did sizzle when it hit the pan though).

This makes an 8 inch square pan.

Crust:

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (114 grams)

1/3 cup powdered sugar — plus extra for garnishing

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3/8 teaspoon salt (just use ¼ tsp plus an extra pinch)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling:

2 large eggs

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon lemon zest (the zest of 1.5 lemons)

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (I found this to be 2 lemons)

3 tablespoons half & half (I used heavy cream, cause thats what I had)

1/8 teaspoon salt

Don’t preheat oven quite yet. Line an 8 inch square metal pan with foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray.

Pulse flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and salt in food processor. Add butter and process to blend, 8 to 10 seconds, then pulse until coarse. (I used a pastry cutter to cut the butter in)

Pour what will seem like a very *dry* mixture into lined pan and press over pan bottom.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While it chills, you can make the filling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. When oven is preheated and after the crust has chilled for 30 minutes, bake the pre-chilled crust for 18-20 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned.

Filling:

Lightly beat the eggs, sugar, and flour together in a bowl. I used a fork. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, half and half, and salt and mix well.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees (oops! I forgot to reduce the temp, I cooked mine at 350 and had no problems). Stir filling again, then pour filling over **warm** crust. Bake for 20 minutes or until filling no longer appears wet and shaky.

Set on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Lift from pan, place on cutting board, dust with extra powdered sugar and cut into bars.

Cut into a dozen squares.