Thursday Night Pineapple Creations!

Hello Hello...
Well lately I have told myself that I need to suck it up and be a bit more brave about inventing my own recipes. I have a huge desire to do it but I am so scared and nervous about failing. Baking and cooking is something I enjoy and I think I am good at it... So I guess I am nervous to try and fail because I am afraid it would take away some of that passion I have for it as well as make me more hesitant in the kitchen. Well I woke up the other day and said WAIT... Stop being a nervous Nelly you baby and just do it, worst case scenario you throw it away and start over! You never know if you can or can't do it until you TRY!! (You are getting anxious to know what I have tried aren't you??? Well you are not if you already scrolled down to peak at the pictures! Cheater...)

Pineapple is one of my favorite foods let alone fruits! I just love it... especially in summer... which is right around the corner so get ready to see more pineapple on this page! Any who, Pineapple Upside Down Cake is amazing I think it is not too sweet, just light happy and pineapplicious! It is also so bright and pretty that it just makes you smile looking at it. I love it so much I decided that I wanted to make my own. Not tweak an existing one but just try to make my own based on my experience in the kitchen as well as what I know and see what happens. SO I DID IT!! YEP... I sent some emails to Sophie from Flour Arrangements and after getting some support and some feed back I decided to try it out and see what happened! Here is the recipe I used..

Ingredients
-2 cups flour
-2 eggs
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup pineapple juice -unsweetened just all natural juice-
-1/3 cup applesauce
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon baking soda

For the topping
-1/2 cup ( 1 stick butter)
-1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
-pineapple slices
-marashino cherries

First I took all the wet ingredients and combinded them in my mixer. I then added the dry ingredients,( I had combinded the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside)


I then took my bundt pan and sprayed non-stick spray on the inside. I melted the 1/2 stick of butter for topping and poured it into the bundt pan. I then took the 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar and sprinkled it in the pan over the top of the butter. I layed the pineapple slices in the pan and placed a cherry in the center. I then poured the batter over the top and it was ready for baking. I baked it at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
This picture is right before I took it out of the oven. You can see the bubbling almost like there was too much wet ingredients... between you and I... I started to panic at this moment haha


I got the cake pan ready and I flipped to unveil the cake!!


The topping was maybe almost too much for the size of the cake as it melted all into the cake pan...

Here is a look at the cake cut open...


OK so now I know you are wondering... Did it taste like poo or rubber or was it actually good??
I thought it was pretty good and I was super proud for that being my first invention. A couple differences I might make is disolving the brownsugar into the butter for topping then linning the pan with it... there was a slight crunchiness from the granuals of brown sugar on the topping.
Another change I am thinking of is using some cake flour and 1/3 oil instead of applesauce. I love the applesauce and the idea of it making it lower fat and calorie but I think it would be less dense with these changes... When I do test it with the changes I will be sure to share... I also would love any ideas or feedback you may have for me!! All and all this was a very positive FUN experience... I did not take a picture of the preped pan like I wanted because... well because I was like a mad scientist with flour everywhere and crazy hair and eyes :O) I was inventing!!!

Sinfully Yours,

Heather

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Cake Balls Round Two...

OK so I am a huge fan of Bakerella... and as you all know she has recently gone on the Martha Stewart show where Martha show cased her cake balls! I have been obsessed with them since the moment I saw them and knew that I had to try to make them as soon as possible....
Well the first time around did not go so well but the second time was better so the pictures and commentary are going to reflect the first and the second time.

The first step of the cake balls is to pick your favorite box cake or homemade cake recipe. I choose to go old school with the Funfetti cake...

Once you make the cake you have to let it cool completely and then crumble the cake very fine into a bowl...

Next you add in a container of frosting (per Bakerella you use a whole container of frosting, however, I did this the first time and it produced very mushy wet doughish balls... The second time around I barely used half of th frosting container and they were still able to make into balls and the consistancy was much better)

Once you mix the frosting into the cake you need to form it into balls. The balls must be chilled before you dip them. Both times I put them in the freezer for about 12 minutes and then dipped them.

The first time with the Funfetti cake I tried to use the almond bark like Bakerella does... I found that either melted on the stove or in the microwave it was very thick and hard to work with and just made a mess... Plus when taste tested they were awful! Horrible little weird dough balls things. The second time around we made strawberry cake and melted white chocolate to dip them in. We added a little bit of oil to the chocolate to make the chocolate a little bit more thin and easier to work with. This produce much better results.



The cake had much more of a cake consistancy the second time around. The white chocolate did make them very rich. I still love this recipe but I do feel I need to play with it more to make more of what I was looking for. Miss Bakerella makes it look so simple :O) but I guess that is what all good bakers do! If any of you have made these and have any tips let me know... I am up for all help and suggestions.

Sinfully Yours,

Heather

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It's Pretzel Time!!

So the other day Carri (who I work with) and I were talking about the great pretzels you can get at the mall... we were day dreaming over the salty goodness of the classic pretzel and then moving on to the oh so good cinnamon and sugar pretzel... After our day dream and returning to our oh so boring lunches I returned to my desk to find an email marked "Can you make these?" enclosed in the email was a recipe for "Mall Pretzels" I thought to myself, of course I CAN make them... but will the recipe hold up to our expectations??? That was the question... So I got to baking.
Here it goes...

recipe from CD Kitchen

Ingredients
-1 1/2 cups water
-1 1/8 teaspoons active dry yeast
-2 tablespoons brown sugar
-1 1/8 teaspoons salt
-1 cup bread flour
-3 cups all purpose flour

-2 cups warm water
-2 tablespoons baking soda

-4 tablespoons butter
- course salt to taste

First, sprinkle the yeast on 1 1/2 cups of luke warm water and stir till it is disolved. Then add the brown sugar and the salt to the luke warm water and stir till it is disolved.


Add the water mixture to your mixing bowl and then slowly add flour and knead the dough until it is elastic. (I also added 3 tablespoons of melted butter to my dough to give it a buttery texture)


Place in an oiled bowl and top with a damn cloth and allow the douh to rise for at least a half hour. The longer it has to rise the more flavor it will have... I gave mine about 2 1/2 hours.


After the dough has risen pinch the dough off into sections to be rolled into a long rope and formed into pretzel. (This is the area where I had the most trouble... I could not get the dough to roll out all long and it was very hard it wanted to just spring back up...)


Once you have formed the pretzels then take the 2 cups of warm water and disolve in the 2 tablespoons of baking soda... stir until disolved. This is your soda water bath. Prepare a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper. (I recomend you spray it down with Pam or the cooking spray of your choice as I did not the first time and they all cooked to the paper.) Once you have formed the pretzel dip it entirely in the soda bath then place on the greased parchment paper. Bake at 450 degrees F for about 9 minutes.
Once you have removed them from the oven dip them in the melted butter so they are coated entirely and then top with your choice of topping. I did some butter with salt and the others I did in a cinnamon and sugar mixture. When doing the cinnamon and sugar i mixed the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and once the pretzel was dipped in th butter i placed it in the bowl and spooned the mixture onto it until t was covered.


Since I had so much trouble forming the pretzel shape I simply made what I called "pretzel bites" with some of the dough. They almost looked like donut holes. They turned out great and were perfectly bite size!
As for the question of time... "did it meet our expectations?" Hot out of the oven they were practically identical to all of my memories of "The Mall Pretzel" The next day, however, they tasted like.... well like a mall pretzel that you took home, put in a tupperware container, and heated up the next day :O) All and all I will defenitly make these again... especailly the pretzel bites. If anyone has any ideas or opnions for next time let me know!

Sinfully yours,

Heather

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

The other day I was browsing our fellow foodies and I came across Brownie or Die... She had made this recipe from Cooks Illustrated... It was love at first site and I knew I had to make it... So I came home and did just that... So here is the recipe"

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients:
2 1/8 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons butter (melted)
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cup chocolate chips

First preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Adjust your oven rack to the middle(I left mine where it was at and it worked just fine)Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with foil(I used parchment paper)Spray the lined pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix flour, salt and baking soda together in a bowl and set to the side.

Whisk melted butter and sugars in a bowl until combined.


Add the egg, the egg yolk and vanilla until well blended.


Using a rubber spatula fold in the dry ingredients. Then fold in the chocolate chips. DO NOT OVER MIX
Put the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with spatula..


Here it is baking... I needed to take a peak...


Bake until top is a light golden brown and the sides slightly pull away from the pan. About 27 minutes... Let it cool to room temperature then cut into 2 inch squares and serve.


I did not wait till room temp I just waited for about 5 minutes until they were cooled... Then Jason and I had one with a glass of milk. You know it is good when Jason mumbles as his mouth is over flowing with cookie bar... " Ohh yeah... Oh yeah you gotta make these again..." As if the whole pan in front of his face was not enough!!


Then today ( the next day) I decided to turn it into the base for a cookie sundae... I heated the cookie bar then placed a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream ontop ( blue bell)... I then dressed it up with melted caramel and hot fudge... what do you think???




Mmmm take a bite!!


All I can say is WOW... It is for sure a keeper at our house...

Sinfully Yours,

Heather

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Woo Hoo

Yesterday I submitted a recipe of mine and one of Cassie's from How to eat a cupcake
They are now featuring us both. My post is #12224 and the one for Cassie's Mocha cupcakes is #12202 Click here to see us on Tastespotting


I am proud to be featured on their site and get a little more exposure on my blog!!

Thanks guys and be looking for my post tomorrow about Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars... YUM!

Sinfully Yours,

Heather

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Dunkable Brownies

I had wanted to bake something this week and I was not sure what... Then Amber said she would come over and she was in the mood for chocolate... and it hit me Dunkable Brownies!!! They are the best! My mom used to make them and I love them... So we went to the store, got the ingredients and got to cooking!! Here is the recipe and pics...

Dunkable Brownies
Ingredients:

-6 squares (6oz) Semi sweet chocolate
-4 squares (4oz) Unsweetened chocolate
-6 tablespoons ( 3/4 stick) butter
-3 Eggs
- 1 Cup flour
- 1 1/4 Cup sugar
- 1/4 Teaspoon salt
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
-1 Teaspoon baking powder
-2 Cups of toasted chopped walnuts ( or nut of your choice)

The first thing you want to do is preheat the oven to 325 degrees... Then line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper and toast the walnuts... I usually stick mine in as the oven is preheating and by the time it is preheated the nuts are toasted... this time I left them in too long and burned all the walnuts!! I tried one and it tasted like burnt popcorn :O(

I was sooo disapointed and then realized that I had pecans... And that is the nuts that Oklahoma is known for... heck I have a HUGE pecan tree in my backyard... So I decided to use the Pecans and call these Okie Dunkable Brownies!! After the nut of your choice is toasted take them off the cookie sheet and set them to the side until later.

Place all the butter and chocolate in a microwaveable bowl and microwave until melted. It takes about 2 minutes depending on your microwave but you want do this in 30 second intervals taking it out and stiring each time so that the chocolate does not burn...

I made a double batch so my pictures may look like more ingredients then yours...



Once your chocolate and butter is all melted it should be smooth with no chunks like this....



Once melted place all in a mixing bowl and add the sugar. Next mix in the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla. In a seperate bowl mix the baking powder, salt and flour. Slowly mix the flour mixture into the wet mixture...



Once the flour and the batter is all mixed together fold in your toasted nuts...

The mixture will be much more wet lookin then normal cookie dough and that is alright! That is how it should look... Because it is a brownie cookie! I lined my cookie sheets with parchment paer and placed the dough on the sheet leaving a litle room for them to spread... They seem to puff up more then they spread so once you see how they cook you will realize how many you can put on each sheet. Bake for about 12 mintues... DO NOT OVER BAKE they are not supposed to be dry inside they are supposed to have a brownie consisancy... So pull them out a few minutes early if you think they look done!

Look they look like little terds ready to bake!! Ha ha



I had to take a peak while they were baking... Mmmmmm Yum Yum



Tada... the finished product...







I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!!

Sinfully Yours,

Heather

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