Caprese Sticks and Tomato Mozzerella Pesto Puff Pastry Spirals---For A Virtual Bridal Shower

Today I’m joining with some other bloggers for a Virtual Bridal Shower for Jessica from My Baking Heart!  She’s getting married—soon!  Nikki at Pennies on a Platter is hosting Jessica’s bridal shower.  She’ll have a round up with all the bloggers’ posts with links to their delicious contributions for the shower.  I can’t wait to see it!

I’ve known Jessica in the blogging world almost the whole time I’ve been blogging, since she has always been involved with Tuesdays With Dorie even all through Baking From My Home to Yours.  She is also faithful with the French Fridays With Dorie group who are cooking and baking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table cookbook.  I tried to keep up with that group, but was finding it too hard to keep that up weekly along with all the other things I’m doing.  Jessica almost never seems to miss a post.  Now we both continue Tuesdays With Dorie as this year we’ve started baking our way through Baking With Julia.

I decided to make an appetizer for the shower.  Actually, I ended up making two.  First of all, with my always blooming AeroGarden full of basil, I kept thinking about these little tomato-mozzarella-basil sticks—perfect bites sitting on a plate drizzled with balsamic syrup. 

Caprese Sticks, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

cherry/grape tomatoes

fresh mozzarella pearls

basil

balsamic vinegar

First, in a small saucepan over low heat, reduce some balsamic vinegar.  About 1/4 cup of vinegar will reduce to 1-2 tablespoons and will thicken into a syrup consistency.  Let it cool while preparing the caprese sticks.  First add a tomato to the stick, then a small basil leaf and end with a mozzarella pearl.  Make as many as you’d like.  Drizzle some of the syrup on a plate or serving platter (it looks the best on a white plate).  Set the prepared sticks on the syrup.

*If you find one whole basil leaf too strong on each stick, you can tear them smaller or use smaller leaves.  I think they are good, but some might think it a little strong.

Love that balsamic reduction!  Caprese is one of my favorite flavor combinations.  These were super simple to make.  I love that the mozzarella pearls aren’t round, but look more like gems. 

I also recently made some pesto puff pastry spirals for a baby shower I hosted.  I actually make them for all kinds of occasions.  Sometimes the spread on them is a little different, in the past I have spread them with some sauteed spinach with garlic, cooled and chopped finely, but they are almost always sprinkled with chopped roasted red pepper, mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.  Roll up each side of the puff pastry and slice into spirals. 

Love the light, crisp, flakiness of these and the pesto and cheese flavor is delicious!

Tomato Mozzarella Pesto Puff Pastry Spirals, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 sheets of puff pastry, thawed

about 4 tablespoons prepared pesto (or store bought)

1/4 cup finely chopped roasted red pepper

1/4 cup tomatoes, chopped small (optional)

1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

*Other times, I have also added some finely chopped artichoke hearts and/or some finely chopped sauteed spinach with garlic (cooled before spreading over the pastry).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Lay one puff pastry out flat on a lightly floured counter.  If any of the seams are slightly torn, pinch them together with your fingers.  Roll with a rolling pin the puffy pastry (which will also help seal any tears) until it is a little thinner than it is originally. 

Spread evenly about 2 tablespoons of the prepared pesto (or sauteed/cooled spinach, may use or need more per sheet of pastry, it’s really to taste) onto the puff pastry.  Next sprinkle on the red pepper and if using, the tomato and artichoke.  Sprinkle on half the mozzarella cheese and parmesan.  Roll from the long ends of the pastry each side to half way.  Slice the rolled pastry into 15-17 slices and lay each spiral flat on the baking sheet.   Bake for about 20 minutes until golden and crispy and the cheese is melted.  While the first sheet is baking, prepare the second sheet the same way.  Serve slightly warm.

I always eat way too many of these.  ;)

So fun to be part of Jessica's virtual bridal shower!  Thanks again for inviting me, Jessica, and for hosting the party, Nikki.  Check out what everyone brought to the party at Nikki’s blog!  Congratulations on your upcoming marriage and wedding, Jessica!  Enjoy your day! 

 Love this picture/invitation!

Mama’s Bollos con Chocolate (Orange Rolls with Chocolate)—Special Tribute to Daniel from The Haggis and the Herring

Today’s post is done with a heavy heart.  Recently, on September 14, 2012, the food blogging world, and especially The Secret Recipe Club unexpectedly lost one of our bloggers.  Daniel from The Haggis and the Herring passed away suddenly.  He left behind a wonderful wife who is pregnant with their third child and two young boys.  His wife, Meredith, wrote a heartfelt eulogy about him which you can read at the above link to his blog. 

I didn’t really know Daniel very well, but through a couple of food blog forums and The Secret Recipe Club, I was certainly acquainted with his blog and his expertise in many things concerning computers, blogs, html, etc.   He even emailed me about a week before he passed with a simple question about the German Chocolate Chip Cookies I posted.  While I keep thinking about him and the loss his passing must be to his family, I believe he left quite a legacy, especially concerning food.  His blog will always be a way for his family (and everyone else, like a simple virtual acquaintance like me) to connect with him and his love of food.  Thank you for sharing so much, Daniel, and as well, his wife Meredith, as I know they cooked, baked and blogged together.  She mentioned that Daniel’s last act was making dinner for his family before he passed.  My deepest sympathies go out to all his family and friends.  He will truly be missed at The Secret Recipe Club!

A big group of Secret Recipe bloggers decided to make a recipe from his blog as a special tribute to him and all post together.  I spent quite a long time looking through his blog for just the right recipe to make.  When I ran across Daniel’s post for his Mama's Bollos con Chocolate (Orange Rolls with Chocolate, I decided they were what I had to make when he said his grandmother made them and they were always his favorite dessert.  He wrote in his post, which was almost a year ago, how he struggled to get the recipe from different family members, and then his aunt discovered it written down by his grandmother in Spanish.  After having it translated, he and his wife made the rolls and he was happy with them being just like he remembered his grandmother used to make.  

The recipe Daniel shares is huge—with eight eggs, lots of milk, orange juice, sugar and 11 cups of flour—oh, and at least a pound of chocolate!  While that would be fun to make sometime for a big crowd, I knew we didn’t need that many here.  I ended up quartering the recipe.  I loved these rolls.  They didn’t “need” the chocolate hiding in the center, but it was certainly good!  I actually think the dough is great for “plain” orange rolls or I’m also thinking about a rolled roll like cinnamon rolls.  The dough was sticky yet simple to work with. 

Please get the recipe for these rolls from the link above.  The halving and quartering of the recipe were quite simple.  If you do decide to make a smaller batch and have any questions, feel free to ask me.  I did end up using about a half of cup extra flour in the quartered recipe, but that is the only difference to Daniel’s posted recipe.  I used Lindt 70% Excellence chocolate in the center of the rolls. 

Brushed with an egg wash, they were ready for the oven after letting them rise for about 30 minutes.

 

Once the rolls were baked and cooled, they were sprinkled with some powdered sugar.  I ate a few more of the rolls than I had planned (no, not all in one sitting).  ;)  Thank you so much, Daniel!  You will truly be missed!

Thanks to Tandy from Lavender and Lime for Daniel’s Tribute Day logo.

Pumpkin Bars---Happy Birthday, Shelby from The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch—Virtual Party!

Pumpkin Bars for Shelby’s Birthday!

Today is Shelby’s birthday---you know, the mastermind, baker and cook extraordinaire from The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHELBY!  Shelby is a fun gal who blogs mostly about the delicious food she makes for herself and her husband, Grumpy.

A few of her fellow blogger friends and I got together (virtually) and thought it would be fun to surprise her with a virtual birthday party, just to show her a little bloggy linky love and besides that if/when I ever meet Shelby in person, she’s the type of person who would be like my BFF ;), or we’d at least be fellow food-lovers and we have just having boys in common.  Shelby has raised two boys who are in their 20’s. I learn a lot from her wisdom.  We all decided to make something from Shelby’s blog.  YUM!

I had a hard time deciding, but thought since it’s her birthday, it would be fun to do one of the cakes she has posted.  There were a lot to choose from, but fitting for the time of year and the fact that Shelby changed the cake she originally took this recipe from and made it a little healthier, I decided on these pumpkin bars.  For my own good, I halved the recipe she posted.  Good thing, because the bars are really good and I would be stuck eating a whole 15x10 sheet pan of pumpkin bars! ;)  Just kidding.  But my boys won’t eat it, Kevin will though, and probably Scott.

 

When I saw that the pumpkin bars were made in a 15x10 sheet pan, I knew it would be easy to halve the recipe because I have a 1/4 sheet pan.  In case you didn’t know, the 15x10 sheet pans are called 1/2 sheets.  Get the link above to look at Shelby’s pumpkin bars and the recipe, I didn’t change anything.  Okay, well, something small—it was just with the cream cheese frosting—I added more powdered sugar.  But other than that, I followed the recipe (halved) exactly.  Those pumpkin bars are great!  I was tempted to add chocolate chips or nuts.  But wanted to stay true to the recipe.  I will be kicking it up with both the next time I make this super-easy cake.  As bars in a sheet pan, this is perfect for a crowd and they came out of the lightly sprayed pan like a dream.

Check out all the other posts on behalf of sweet Shelby’s birthday!

Megan from Megan's Cookin'

Jenny from Mad Rantings of Andrew's Mom

Suzanne from Thru the Bugs on My Windshield 

Pam from Living Rancho Delux 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHELBY!

Individual Apple Crisps—12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Individual Apple Crisp

Don’t freak out, but today is the start of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats!  I know, you’re all thinking the same things as me.  Yes, it WAS just Christmas.  Yes, it IS that time of year again.  Look on the bright side, you still have 12 weeks, well, really more like 14 since we’ll finish posts for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats a couple weeks before the holiday.  You’ve got all the time in the world! ;)  

In thinking about what to post first and my mind not really on Christmas treats just yet, I had what I think is a great idea for holiday gift giving or any time, really.  Everyone I know seems to love food gifts.  I had in my pantry some of these cute, little 5 1/2 inch pie tins and it came to me that they would be great for making individual treats.  Having a basket full of apples we needed to use, I decided to make apple crisps.  I made enough to use the four little tins I had.

I think these would be great teacher, friend, or neighbor gifts for any time of the year.  Love the lids with each tin.

What else would you put in them?  Cute little pies?  What else?

For the apple crisps, I used this crumble topping recipe, which is a recipe from Paige at For Love of the Table who is a chef I took classes from when we lived in Kansas.  It is a perfect crumble and my go-to for crisps.  I halved her original recipe, since I knew I was only make four crisps.  Then I made up the apple part of the recipe and came up with what to put in it as I went along.  I think it turned out great.  Apple crisp is pretty basic.

Individual Apple Crisps, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

Crumble:

1/2  cup plus 1 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

6 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

4  1/2 tablespoons (2 ounces plus 1/4 ounce) unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

3/4 cup old-fashioned oats

1/4 cup lightly toasted and chopped walnuts

Apple Filling:

6 apples, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks (any type of apple you’d like)

a squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Have individual 5  1/2 inch tins or ramekins set on a baking sheet ready to fill.  Spray them lightly with cooking spray.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, salt, nutmeg and oats.  Add the butter and begin rubbing it in to the dry mixture, pinching it between your fingers, until it is well incorporated and it feels like all of the mixture is moist.  Add the nuts and stir together.  Set in the refrigerator until ready to use.  *If you really don’t want to use your hands, you can put the ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times until it is all combined.  Don’t over process it if you do it this way.  Add the nuts at the end and stir them in. 

In another bowl, add the apples and toss them with the lemon juice.  Add the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt and stir to combine.  Scoop an equal amount (about a cup) of the apple filling into each tin.  Next put equal amounts of the crumble evenly on the tops of each tin full of apples.  Bake for about 30 minutes, until topping is golden and crisp.  Let the crisps cool until warm.  Or if giving them as gifts, let them cool completely, put the lids on and label them.

*Have an abundance of another fruit?  Use that instead and add sugar according to the sweetness of the fruit.  You can also add some dried fruit, cranberries, cherries to the apple crisp if you’d like. 

Brenda from Meal Planning Magic is hosting the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats round up this year (again).  Check out her blog for more information.   Check out all the other recipe from the other participants.  I know I’ll get some great ideas for the holidays this year and you will, too, I’m sure.

Grapeseed Oil Brownies—From Cookie Madness, a Dark, Dense Brownie and Fairly Low in Fat

Grapeseed Oil Brownies that should be called Dense, Dark Brownies That You Won’t Be Able To Stop Eating

My baking pal, Anna, at Cookie Madness, recently asked me if I wanted to try a brownie recipe she came up with that uses grapeseed oil.  Not only that, but there isn’t very much oil or butter in the brownies, but you really wouldn’t ever know that they are fairly low in fat.  These brownies have a deep chocolate flavor and are dense and perfectly brownie-like.  They aren’t too fudgy and they aren’t cakey.  I find it hard to explain what they are like.  I just think everyone should try them and see if they are your kind of brownie. 

I first tasted the brownies and thought, “Hmmm?”  Not sure what I thought.  Went back a bit later and tasted them again.  I kind of liked them better with the second taste.  And still again a little later, when the boys all decided to taste them, I had another bite or two and decided that I REALLY like them.  Instead of tasted gobs of butter/sugar, grainy chocolate, which often some brownies are like, you can just taste a deep, dense chocolate flavor with these.  They are good.  Try them!   Kevin liked them.  He thought they looked like they’d be cakey, was pleasantly surprised they are not, but they aren’t gooey, fudgy like some brownies.  They are just stand-out brownie kind of brownie.  While the boys were eating one, Scott said with his mouth stuffed full of his last bite, “How many can we have?”  We let him have a second one.

I followed Anna’s recipe exactly!  Here's the recipe at Cookie Madness.  Thanks, Anna!

Whole Wheat Loaves—Tuedays With Dorie—Baking With Julia

Fresh from the oven, Baking With Julia—Whole Wheat Loaves

We made bread for Tuesdays With Dorie this week.  The bread recipe was simple (the mixer did all the kneading), and it rose up nicely.  It tasted great, too! 

Can I tell you, I am lucky to be able to record old Baking With Julia shows on PBS every Saturday.  And one of the things I love most of all is Julia’s cute little snort-laugh in almost all the episodes.  If you are able to catch any of the episodes, look for her laugh.  Makes my day!

What is a gal to do with two loaves of fresh bread?  Give one to a neighbor who is having a birthday.  Worked perfectly this time. 

Told you it rose nicely.  Baked it for exactly 35 minutes. 

The bread was easy to slice with a perfectly crisp outside and soft inside. 

Here’s where someone will need to help Kayte at Grandma's Kitchen Table sit down, she might pass out when she hears that I didn’t do anything with chocolate for this one.  I know, I could have at least spread some Nutella on a slice or something.  You’ll never know, maybe I did and just didn’t photograph it. ;)    I’ll never tell.

Butter—yes.

Raspberry jam—check.

Everyone liked the bread around here.  I have a question or just a little something that I don’t’ get—why can some bread be called whole wheat when it doesn’t only have whole wheat in it?  This bread has about half whole wheat and half bread flour.  So in my book, it’s not really whole wheat bread.  This bread is whole wheat.  100% whole wheat, I guess that’s how some recipes get away with just calling them whole wheat is by not saying 100%.  Just a little beef, I’ll get over it. 

This is a great bread, not too whole-wheatty for those who don’t want that much fiber in their diets.  My only other issue with it was by rolling up the flattened out dough, it left big air holes through the loaf.  I did just what the recipe said to do.  Hmm.  Oh well.

Want the recipe?  Teresa from The Family That Bakes Together and Michele from Veggie Num Nums are the hosts this week and will have the recipe on their blogs. 

Coconut Delight Oreo Fudge Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Coconut Delight Oreo Fudge Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Have you seen the newest member of the Oreo Cookies family?  Coconut Delight Oreo Fudge Cremes.

If you like coconut, you’ll like these Oreos.  I like to take things like this and make something else with them—kind of like Anna at Cookie Madness did recently with brownies.  She put these cookies inside some brownies.  They look great!  After seeing her post about them, I was on a mission to find them and make chocolate chip cookies with them.  That is my go-to treat to play around with—well, that and Rice Krispies Treats and brownies.  You can do so much with them.  I’ve added all kinds of things to those three goodies.  Yet Kevin has said to me, “Can’t you just make regular boxed brownies or plain Rice Krispies treats?”  How boring is that?  And how unethical of me?  Like it would look good to post here on my blog boxed brownies!  Like I’d ever even entertain the idea of posting plain Rice Krispies treats.  Anyway, let’s not get in to all of that!

Cookies—I made cookies.  I used my favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe, but to make things a little bit easier, instead of the “fancy” flours those cookies use, bread flour and cake flour, I used all purpose flour.  Oh, I changed up a few other things, but knew by using that favorite recipe as a base, these would come out great, too.  They are good enough that I ate a few bites of the cookie dough (I think I like cookie dough more than a cookie!  Shhh!), but after that, I’ve steered clear of the cookies because I’m, once again/still, trying not to eat too many things like that.  Boring!  I know.

At least I’m here to share the cookies (photos and recipe at least) with you. ;)  That and I was practically yelled at by a friend and fellow blogger, Suzanne, at Thru the Bugs on My Windshield, for not getting the post up for these as soon as I posted a teaser photo of them on Facebook on Saturday.  So here you go, Suzanne. 

Coconut Delight Oreo Fudge Chocolate Chunk Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

5 ounces (12 cookies) Coconut Delight Oreo Fudge Cremes, chopped

4 ounces (3/4 cup) dark chocolate chunks or chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Scrape sides of bowl.  Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.  Scrape sides of bowl again.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together to sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat just until combined.  Stir in the coconut, cookies and chocolate with a spatula.  Scoop cookie dough into desired-sized balls on baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Let cookies sit on the baking sheet for a couple minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Homemade Cookie Dough and Maraschino Cherry Ice Cream Cake

Homemade Cookie Dough and Maraschino Cherry Ice Cream Cake

Parker’s 11th birthday was a couple days ago.  Happy Birthday, Parker!

This kid of mine doesn’t like chocolate.  Huh?  I know.  But one of the things he LOVES is cherries, all kinds.  He LOVES maraschino cherries.  So I recently made maraschino cherry ice cream, just to make him happy, because we often have ice cream and there aren’t any flavors he likes.  Well, I think what is really happening, is he is turning into the kind of person who would rather have savory/salty things than sweets.  How dare he! ;)

I guess when a kid is this awesome, you take them as they are. ;)

Here’s the recipe for the maraschino cherry ice cream, it’s a super simple recipe and if you like maraschino cherries, this ice cream is perfect.  Parker was pretty happy!

Maraschino Cherry Ice Cream, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup 2% milk

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

*1/3-1/2 cup maraschino cherry juice (from a 10 oz. jar)

*about 24 maraschino cherries, chopped

In a saucepan, dissolve the sugar with 1 cup cream over medium-low heat.  Remove from heat and add it in a large bowl to the remaining cup of cream, the milk, almond extract, cherry juice and chopped cherries.  Whisk all ingredients together well.  The mixture will be cold enough that you don’t need to chill it.  You can put the bowl over an ice bath for 15 minutes or so, if you want it colder.  I just added it right to the ice cream bowl and began churning it.  Churn according to your ice cream makers manufacturer’s instructions, about 20-25 minutes.  Remove the soft ice cream from the bowl and store it in an airtight container in the freezer.  *I used close to 1/2 cup of juice from the jar of cherries and 24 cherries, which wasn’t the whole jar because a few of them had been eaten before the ice cream was made. ;)

__________________________________________

I made the ice cream a few days before Parker’s birthday.  The boys all enjoyed some the day I made it.  After asking Parker what he wanted for his birthday—no one here likes cake—he just kept hummin’ and hawin’ about it and couldn’t decide on anything.  The day before his birthday, I decided to make him an ice cream cake. 

I started with a crust base, which I made up using animal crackers.  I really like how it turned out!  Sometimes we get tired of the same ol’ graham cracker crust.  After making the crust, I stuck it in the freezer for a while.

Animal Cracker Cookie Crust, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

about 5 1/2 ounces (150 grams) crushed animal crackers

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pulse the cookie/crackers in a food processor (it was about 2 cups of cookies) until they become fine crumbs.  Add the sugar and pulse a few times.  Add in the melted butter and the vanilla and pulse until the crumbs are all moistened.  Spread evenly and press down in a 9 inch square pan.  Can be used for a cheesecake or ice cream cake or any kind of crust you’d like!

Parker doesn’t totally hate all chocolate, he really just doesn’t like too much of it and he really doesn’t like dark chocolate.  I’d recently made some eggless chocolate chip cookie dough, which there was still some of in the fridge.  Normally, I’d make homemade ice cream, but we happened to have half a gallon of plain vanilla ice cream in the freezer, so I decided to soften it up and add some of the cookie dough to it.  Why did I make edible cookie dough?  Because Sam had gone to the dentist and then to the store with me afterwards and decided he wanted chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  Can you believe there was none at the store where we went?  I promised Sam I’d make him some cookie dough he could have in some vanilla ice cream. 

I took little balls of the cookie dough and froze them, then stirred them into the vanilla ice cream.

I stirred about one cup of the cookie dough balls/chunks/nuggets into about half a gallon of vanilla ice cream.  (There’s probably another two cups of cookie dough balls in the freezer for use another time!)  The now-chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream was spread over the animal cracker crust.

After letting the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream layer freezer for an hour or two, I softened the remaining maraschino cherry ice cream and spread it over the cookie dough ice cream.  It was probably about a quart and a half of cherry ice cream.  Once that had frozen for a couple hours, I spread Cool Whip over the top and let it freeze more.  I know, Cool Whip—it’s a hit here and I wasn’t planning on eating any of the ice cream cake.  Okay, I tasted a little.   Anyway.  The ice cream cake---it tastes great, if you like those cherries.  I don’t hate them.  I just don’t like what has happened to the cherries. ;) 

I am/was so happy that a neighbor recently gave me this great cake pan she didn’t want anymore.  It’s a 9-inch square pan with a removable bottom.  It was perfect for this ice cream cake!

Kevin put the 11 cherries on the top.  (I couldn’t find the candles and I think Parker was much happier with the cherries anyway.)  I told Kevin to just put six cherries in one of the “1’s”, but he didn’t like the idea of having them be uneven, that’s why there’s one in the corner.  I like the way the sliced ice cream cake came out with perfectly visible pieces of the cookie dough and the layers all prominent. 

Here’s the quick, edible/eggless cookie dough recipe.  I would probably halve it next time as this made a lot.  So unless you have a great use for this much edible dough, go with half. 

Edible/Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

6 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk (I used skim)

1  1/2 cups (180 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Cream together the butter and sugars.  Add the vanilla and milk and combine.   Add the flour and salt and mix just until combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge.  (I will last a couple weeks.)  After the dough has been refrigerated for a couple hours, you can roll it into little, tiny balls and freeze them for use in ice cream.

Parker wanted a wallet for his birthday.  We surprised him with a $50 bill hiding in it!  Next birthday—Kevin, October 5th and Taylor October 12th.  Whatever will they want? ;)

Peach Upside Down Cake—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking With Julia

Peach Upside Down Cake

For Tuesdays With Dorie--Baking With Julia this go-round, we were to make the Nectarine Upside Down Chiffon Cake.  Check out our hosts’ posts for the recipe. 

Susan at The Little French Bakery and Marlise at The Double Trouble Kitchen are the blogs to visit for the recipe. 

I sort of veered off the written recipe.  I couldn’t help it.  When I looked at the cake, I decided I just couldn’t make a cake that had six eggs.  I need to cut back on so many decadent, fattening treats a bit.  But I did stick with a couple things as they were in the recipe from the book. 

*The original cake is supposed to have nectarines, but I used peaches.  I did a quick water-boiling bath to remove the skins and sliced them into eight slices each.  I used three peaches. 

*When I saw that the butter/brown sugar layer for the peaches to rest on had one cup of brown sugar, I decided it didn’t need that much sugar, so I cut it from one cup to only half a cup.  I think it was just fine.  I should have cut the butter, too.  It would have been just fine with less butter as well.

*I did make the streusel just how the recipe was written, except I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose flour.  The streusel was one of my favorite things about the cake. 

*And finally, I didn’t make the chiffon cake.  Instead I made this French Yogurt Cake, with just the vanilla extract.  And I again used whole wheat pastry flour.   Making this “lighter” cake, which has oil instead of butter and of course, yogurt (I used fat free, plain Greek yogurt), I felt better about having some of the dessert when it was done.  I also baked the cake in a 9-inch springform pan, though the recipe says to use a 10-inch pan.  I don’t have one.  I think it was just fine in the 9-inch, but I’m sure the French Yogurt Cake didn’t have as much batter as the chiffon cake would have made.  

  I have a little laugh for you.  I prepared the cake, put it in the oven, set the timer for 30 minutes and went about my business.  The timer beeped.  I opened the oven, saw that it looked like it still needed more time, so I set the timer again for 10 more minutes.  When the timer beeped again, I opened the oven and noticed the cake didn’t look any different.  Hmmm?   What could be the problem?  Why, yes, yes I did “bake” the cake with the oven off!  SIGH  It never occurred to me until after that 40 minutes that the oven wasn’t even on!  What a goofball!  I know, I’m not the only one to do such a thing, but silly me! 

I removed the cake from the oven while it preheated.  I think one of the reasons I didn’t realize the oven was off was because it was still warm from baking the streusel.  I like to think I would have noticed a cold oven.

My family prefers Cool Whip to fresh whipped cream.  I only obliged this time because we happened to have a tub of it in the refrigerator.  Sometimes, it is just so much easier to dollop a little Cool Whip on things—you know, there’s nothing quite like a little hydrogenated oil and high fructose corn syrup to top off a great, healthier cake.  sigh

Molten Chocolate Lava Crock Pot Cake—Secret Recipe Club

Molten Chocolate Lava Crock Pot Cake

It’s time for Secret Recipe Club!  This is a date each month that I really look forward to but I have to say I can’t believe how fast the months fly by when it seems like just yesterday it was time for Secret Recipe Club from the last time.  Can anyone else believe it’s September?  I swear it was just Christmastime.  At any rate, here we are and I’ve certainly got another delicious treat to share with you that I picked from the hundreds of recipes I was faced with choosing from at the blog I had this month. 

It’s no surprise that I’m always drawn to the word chocolate.  And when I saw molten lava along with it, this was a must-make recipe.  The blog I got to pick from this month is Katie’s blog, This Chick Cooks.  I feel it somewhat of a disservice to have chosen this cake from Katie’s blog, since she is all about eating whole foods and cutting white flour and white sugar out of her diet.  Then why would this recipe be on her blog?  Because she used to make, eat, and blog things like this, but now doesn’t. 

I seriously started making a list of things from her blog that I wanted to make not long after getting this assignment.  Check some of these out--Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream—I still plan to make this soon, just couldn’t remember to get coconut milk every time I was at a store.  I love oatmeal for breakfast, so I’m drawn to this post for 40 Fun Oatmeal Toppings.  Hot Fudge Brownie Larabars—I would love those.  Healthier Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies—I plan to make these, too.  I love making “treats” that have a healthier twist but are still a treat.  All the things I looked at when I first got the assignment seemed to end up being things that I needed something from the store in order to make them.  Then, before I knew it, our Group A leader, Jane, sent a little reminder last week to make sure we had our recipe and post ready and I freaked out a little when I realized I hadn’t done anything yet—just dreamed of all the goodness on Katie’s blog.  Where or where did August go?

I did another quick search of her Recipe Index—and that’s when I saw the words Molten Chocolate Lava!  After looking at the recipe, I saw that I had everything to make it and decided to get to work in time for the family treat that night. 

The Molten Chocolate Lava Crock Pot Cake (also known as Mud Cake or Pudding Cake) could not have been more simple to make.  Katie found the recipe for it on the Family Fun website.  Guess what—I didn’t change anything from the recipe Katie has on her blog.  I did exactly what it said.  This is rare for me.  I deserve a gold sticker or something. ;)  The recipe said to cook the cake in the Crockpot on high for 1-2 hours.  I cooked mine for 1 hour and 40 minutes. 

Definitely delicious on its own, with a deep, dark chocolate flavor from using Dutch-processed, dark cocoa, the cake was just screaming for some ice cream.  I mean, doesn’t it just look so much happier now?  Still, that seemed a little “plain”.  Katie mentioned how good this would be with some fresh berries on the side.  Wish I would have had some because I totally agree with that.

We ended up with sprinkles on ours here because my boys think everything has to have sprinkles.

Ahhh, definitely looking better now with the little pop of color.  I think second only to sprinkles, the boys all love maraschino cherries, so it only seemed appropriate to put a cherry on top of this cake.  Parker even likes them so much that lately when they get to have ice cream for a snack, Parker begs and pleads to just have a bowl full of the cherries with no ice cream.  I think I’ve only let him have three of them so far.  His birthday is coming this week.  Somebody is probably going to get his own jar of cherries as one of his gifts.  Silly kid.  Last year he got his own bottle of A-1 Steak Sauce, he could drink that stuff.

I’ll definitely be back to Katie’s blog, This Chick Cooks, for more recipe inspiration soon!  Go check it out if you have never been there!

Can’t wait to see what the rest of Group A made this month!