Zucchini Bread Recipe

Mom got some zucchini this past weekend at a flea market and we decided to make some somewhat (not really!) healthy bread out of it. The recipe is originally from AllRecipes.com. It’s very moist and you can’t even taste the zucchini. Besides all the sugar, it’s a good bread recipe to hide some veggies in it for picky kids. (Try substituting some sugar-free applesauce or carrots in it instead of all that sugar—what I’m doing with another bread recipe.) It's also super good the next day, gets better with age (but not too long, then it'll get moldy!).

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Recipe: Morning Glory Muffins

This Father’s Day my mom found a recipe from the local newspaper for something called “Morning Glory Muffins.” Well, we had them in the morning, but I’m sure they will taste great any time of day! They are jam-packed with healthy, tasty ingredients that are sure to get you started on a fabulous day.

Ingredients:

·        1 ¼ cup granulated sugar

·        ½ cup vegetable oil

·        3 eggs

·        2 tsp vanilla extract

·        2 cups all-purpose flour

·        2 tsp baking powder

·        ¼ tsp salt

·        1 tsp cinnamon

·        1 ½ cups grated carrots

·        ½ cups raisins (we used golden raisins)

·        ½ cup flaked coconut

·        ½ cup peeled diced raw apple

·        ½ cup chopped pecans (we used slivered almonds)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a big bowl.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in another bowl. Add to the liquid ingredients and stir just until moistened. Gently fold in carrots, raisins, coconut, apple, and nuts.
4. Pour into well-greased muffin tins (or just use cupcake holders) to about two-thirds full (about ¼ cup batter per muffin). Bake 20-25 minutes, until light golden on the edges and tops.

Makes 16 muffins, but I used my scoop to portion out the batter, so I got 24 smaller muffins. Thanks Barbara Jarrett for your recipe!

This is also an easily adaptable recipe as I’m sure you could substitute a variety of nuts and use dried cranberries (Craisins) instead of raisins. 

Lemon Buttercream

Hello all! Last week I made cookies and cupcakes for my mom to take to work for a fundraiser. I made half lemon and have vanilla, and they are delicious! It is really easy to adapt a basic buttercream recipe to create different flavors. Using this basic recipe from Wilton, you can be creative and have delicious tasting cupcakes all the time!

Ingredients:

·        ½ cup butter, softened (one stick)

·        ½ cup shortening (Crisco)

·        1 teaspoon lemon extract (or any other extract: vanilla, raspberry, almond…)

·        4 cups confectioners sugar

·        2 teaspoons milk (**you may need a little more or less depending on weather & humidity)

Directions:

1.      First cream the butter and shortening together. Then add the extract (in my case, I did a vanilla recipe and then a lemon recipe).

2.      Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar, making sure not to create a catastrophic poof of sugar all over the kitchen!

3.      Add milk, slowly. The glory of this is that you can add more or less in order to get the right consistency for your recipe.

Be creative and try different extracts for different flavored cupcakes! It’s great to use a plain vanilla cupcake, add a little filling, and then complement the flavor with a flavored buttercream. For instance, raspberry filled vanilla cupcakes with lemon frosting, yum! 

I added a little royal icing flower to differentiate between the vanilla and lemon cupcakes (along with the frosting color). 

Carrot Cake Recipe

I made this recipe as a practice for a cake order I have coming up at the end of the month. I was a bit skeptical to try it, as Paula Deen recipes have lots of butter and sometimes don't turn out the best. However, after sifting through a lot of the 216 reviews (this is still a 5-star recipe on the Food Network site), I decided to give it a try. And it was delicious! Get ready to grate your carrots kiddies, because this is a lot more labor intensive than dumping some boxed mix into a mixing bowl with some other ingredients!

I did not use this frosting recipe since I needed it to "crust" a little more than typical cream cheese frosting in order to apply the fondant, but from my judgment I would say that this frosting recipe will be delicious also! You can find the original posting of this recipe here.

Ingredients:

• Butter, for pans
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, optional (I used walnuts)

Frosting:

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick salted butter, room temperature
• 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) round pans; Line bottom of the pans with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add eggs and vegetable oil. Using a hand mixer, blend until combined. Add carrots and pecans, if using.
3. Pour into pans. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, place on waxed paper and allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

1. Add all ingredients, except nuts, into a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a hand mixer. Stir in the nuts. Spread frosting on top of each cake layer. Stack the cakes on a serving plate and serve. 

 

Vanishing Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

(This is a slight adaptation from the Quaker "vanishing oatmeal raisin cookie" recipe. I obviously used chocolate chips instead!)

Made these for my mom to take to work one day, I hear that they really were vanishing!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1stick) plus 6 tbsp. butter, softened
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
• 3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (or raisins. Or nuts... whatever you prefer!)

Steps:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy.
2. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
3. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
4. Add oats and chocolate chips (or other additives); mix well.
5. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
6. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

 

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Bar Cookies: Bake 30 to 35 minutes in ungreased 13x9 inch metal baking pan.

As I said before, I used chocolate chips instead of raisins. partly because I like chocolate chips more and partly because we didn't have raisins. Also, I greased my baking sheet anyway, because you never know. 

Coffee Cake Recipe

As some of you may know, my mom is a coffee cake queen. I would venture to say that it may be her favorite baked good/sweet treat. She’s won at the fair with her recipes and has done some clever ingredient changes. She gave me this recipe to make, found in an old “Look Homeward, Lafayette: Sesquicentennial Edition (1845-1995)” cookbook that is very tasty! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients:

Cake

½ lb butter or margarine (softened)

2 cups sugar

1 pint (1 lb) sour cream

4 eggs (add one at a time, beating well after each addition)

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

Topping

½ cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)

¾ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Steps:

1.      Cream the butter and sugar.

2.      Add sour cream, eggs, and vanilla to the mixture.

3.      Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda & powder), then gradually mix into creamed mixture.

4.      Pour into a greased 9x13” pan. (The recipe also says you can use three 8” or 9” cake pans, or loaf pans).

5.      Mix together chopped walnuts, cinnamon, and sugar in a separate bowl (I used a lot more walnuts, probably about 2 cups, in order to cover the top more).

6.      Take knife and run it down the cake in lines or swirls so that the topping gets into the batter.

7.      Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or when tester comes out clean (use a toothpick, it’s cheap and easy, unless you like the testers better!).

You can also customize this recipe by using different nuts for the topping, along with raisins, apples, or other fresh/dried fruits. The recipe says it freezes well. Thanks Jean A. Koszoru for your yummy recipe!

**Watch out for your broiler! I found that the higher temperature (375 versus the average cake/baking temperature of 350 degrees) was a bit too hot for our “vintage” oven. The top got a little crisp after the first 20 minutes, so I had to move it down to a lower rack. But nonetheless, delicious!

Berry Trifle Dessert

Happy Mother’s Day to all you Mamas out there! 

For Mother’s Day here, my mom asked me to make this yummy looking berry trifle. (Let me just tell you, as a little aside, that she loves trifles like this, and it took us so long to find a trifle dish a few years ago! It was slim pickings, and now you can pretty much find them everywhere!) But anyway, she found this delicious recipe (see my changes below, after the recipe**), and it is delicious! No baking necessary, just preparation of already prepared foods. And it is GREAT for summer parties or just a hot day to treat yourself, enjoy!

(photo & recipe courtesy of: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/creamy-layered-fruit-sensation-90571.aspx)

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp. orange juice

1/4 tsp. almond extract

1 pkg. (10 oz.) prepared angel food cake, cut into 2-inch cubes

2 pkg. (1 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Fat Free Sugar Free Instant Pudding**

2-1/2 cups cold fat-free milk

1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Sugar Free Whipped Topping, divided

2 pkg. (12 oz. each) frozen unsweetened mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, sliced strawberries), thawed, well drained**

Steps:

MIX juice and extract. Drizzle over cake cubes in large bowl; toss to coat.
BEAT pudding mixes and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1 cup COOL WHIP.
RESERVE a few berries for garnish. Place half the cake cubes in 2-qt. glass bowl; top with layers of half each of the remaining berries and pudding mixture. Repeat layers. Refrigerate 2 hours. Top with remaining COOL WHIP and reserved berries just before serving.

**Since I forgot to get the vanilla pudding, we had a package of white chocolate sugar free pudding mix, so I used that and about 1.5 cups of milk (it gets a little thicker) to add to the cool whip and it was just as good. Also, Weis is currently remodeling and I had trouble finding frozen berries (Mom said later on that they are by the cool whip! Who knew?!), so I just used fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. I was extremely shocked that the grocery store had already prepared angel food cake for sale, as that was convenient! Luckily this recipe is easily customizable, so pretty much following the bare-bones will lead you in the right direction.

Baking: Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of my favorite cookie recipes is this recipe by Cindy Utter, from the Taste of Home baking cookbook. Every time I make these, they are delicious (although I omit the pecans from the ingredients). They are super easy and quick, and are sure to be a crowd pleaser every time! I know, because a lot of you who know me have eaten these before and loved them! 

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream the butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (dough will be sticky). Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.
• Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: about 11 dozen.

Nutritional Analysis: 2 cookies equals 160 calories, 9 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 20 mg cholesterol, 145 mg sodium, 20 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein.

From: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cindy-s-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies