Gingerbread cookies

I don't recall having much (if any) gingerbread growing up, but over the past few years, I have developed a reverence for the stuff. I was fortunate enough to find this recipe, titled "The Most Wonderful Gingerbread Cookies," on my first attempt at making gingerbread. It always turns out beautifully for me.

I like my gingerbread cookies nice and soft. I also like to use my special Williams Sonoma Message In A Cookie Cutters to stamp Christmas messages into them. They make the perfect neighbor gifts. I make several batches of this each December.

Gingerbread Cookies
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
3⁄4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 tsp vanilla

1. In a medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients until well blended. 
2. In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and egg together until blended. Add molasses and vanilla; mix until well blended. 
3. Gradually add dry mixture to wet ingredients; mix until smooth. 
4. Divide dough in half and wrap in Saran wrap. Let stand at room temperature for at least an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. 
6. Lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin. Roll out one portion of dough to about 1/4" thick. It helps to also sprinkle a bit of flour on the dough. 
7. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes, and place them on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
8. Bake 7-8 minutes for soft gingerbread.

Chicken Pot Pie

I like a good chicken pot pie, but Mr. B. isn't keen on actual pie dough for most things. Thanks to Betty Crocker, we found an easy compromise that is pretty tasty! It's not exactly Marie Callendar's (which I quite like) and it's definitely not like a made-from-scratch version, but it comes together quickly and has ingredients you can't really go wrong with!

Easy Chicken Pot Pie 
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup cooked chicken, diced
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) cream of chicken soup
1 cup Bisquick mix (which is not something I buy; see below for the substitute recipe)*
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix vegetables, chicken and soup in baking dish of your choice (I usually use a 9*9 Pyrex).
2. Combine Bisquick, milk, and egg; spread evenly over the top of vegetables/chicken/soup mixture in baking dish.
3. Bake until crust is golden brown (approx. 30 minutes)

*Substitute for Bisquick mix
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp  salt
1 Tbsp shortening

1. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Cut shortening into dry mixture. Then use in place of Bisquick mix as above.

Cheesecake Brownies

Recently some friends invited us over for dinner, and asked us to bring dessert. With some cream cheese in the fridge, I decided it was time to try Cooking With My Food Storage's Cheesecake Brownies. Since we had had success with this other recipe for brownies in the past, I combined the two. It turned out delicious, but next time I will cook it a little longer.

Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients for Brownie portion
1/2 c oil
1 c sugar
1 tsp (+) vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 c flour
1/3 c cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Ingredients for Cheesecake portion
8 oz cream cheese (preferably at room temperature)
1 egg
1/3 c sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13" baking dish.
2. Mix together oil, 1 c sugar, and vanilla (from Brownie portion above). Beat in 2 eggs. In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Stir into wet ingredients until just blended.
3. Spread brownie mixture into 9x13" baking dish.
4. Use an electric mixer to combine cream cheese, 1 egg, and 1/3 c sugar (from Cheesecake portion above) in a separate dish.
5. Scoop out cheesecake mixture on top of brownie batter in baking dish. Use a spatula to spread evenly across the top of brownie batter. Then, use a knife to swirl some chocolate into the cheesecake.
6. Bake at 350°F for about 25 minutes. Use toothpick to test for doneness. I think I cooked mine for about this long, but my brownies were gooey. Your oven may bake differently than mine, though, so it is a good idea to check on your brownies at this time.
7. Let cool; cut into bars (ca. 12) to serve.

Strawberry Shortcake

'Tis the season for strawberries, and one of our favorite ways to eat them is with shortcake. We recently tried out this recipe (click for original). It had a very light sweetness and was not as spongy as what we're used to, but it was worth making.

Strawberry Shortcake
2 c flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
1/3 c shortening
1 c milk

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly.
3. Add shortening, and cut in using pastry blender, forks, or knives until crumbly
4. Add milk and mix until combined.
5. Bake for about 25 minutes in greased pan (we used our bundt pan), or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Biscuits from scratch

 We received some sausage gravy mixes for Christmas last year, and decided to try them out. What better way than with biscuits? This is a recipe I found online recently here that turned out pretty well for us.

Biscuits
2 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp shortening (or just 4 Tbsp of one or the other)
1 c buttermilk, chilled (or 1 c milk with 1 Tbsp lemon juice)

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add cool butter and shortening. Mix in with a fork or with your fingers (taking care not to melt the fats) until it reaches a consistency like peas or looks like crumbs.
4. Add buttermilk. Mix. It will be VERY sticky.
5. Pour out onto a well-floured surface and cover dough with flour. Knead around, folding dough in on itself a few times. 
6. Spread out until about 1" thick. Cut circles from dough. I used a 3" cup to do so.
7. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. Biscuits will turn a golden brown color and should rise a bit.

Homemade Bran Muffins

With two full days on campus each week for both of us, it gets challenging to try to come up with at least somewhat healthy food to take with us. Sandwiches get soggy; we do not have a spare moment to microwave leftovers. One food item that holds up pretty well, tastes good, and sustains us is the bran muffin.

I found the following recipe online a while back and decided to try it. You can find it in its original form here.

It was not as easy as I thought it would be to find wheat bran. Apparently they do not carry it at Walmart, which is where we do a lot of our shopping. We finally found some at Smith's, in the cereal aisle. I found it in a display with other "Bob's Mill" special mixes and cereals (which is where I was looking at Walmart, but to no avail). It is helpful to know that it looks like sawdust :o)

Bran Muffins
1 1/2 c wheat bran
1 c buttermilk (or 1 c milk plus 1 Tbsp lemon juice or 1 3/4 Tbsp cream of tartar)
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 egg
2/3 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c raisins (the next time I make these, I think I may try adding Craisins for a twist)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and prepare muffin tin by placing liners or greasing cups.
2. Mix wheat bran and buttermilk (or substitution) and let stand 10 minutes.
3. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl.
4. Mix dry ingredients in a third bowl. Then, combine everything and add raisins.
5. Pour into muffin tin, filling cups about 2/3 full. You should be able to fit all of the batter into 12 regular-sized muffin tin wells.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes.

Birthday Cake 2010

For Thomas' birthday this year, I put together this fancy little cake, the recipe for which I originally found here.

Although it looks beautiful, my opinion on the first day was that the cake was too dry. This may have something to do with the fact that I baked it in the morning before work, left it out to cool, and completed the assembly several hours later. However, letting it sit in the fridge for a few days (covered) has improved it. At any rate, if you love chocolate and, more importantly, peanut butter, this cake is for you!

Reese's Cake

Chocolate Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
 (I used margarine)
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk (I substituted 1 3/4 Tbsp cream of tartar with 1 cup of milk)
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional) (I used chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease & flour two round cake pans using shortening and then dusting with flour.
2. Combine dry ingredients (flour through salt). Set aside.
3. Mix the other ingredients (butter through vanilla) in a large mixing bowl. Add dry ingredients and buttermilk alternately. Fold in melted chocolate last.
4. Pour into cake pans.
5. Bake for 26-30 minutes. Use the toothpick test to ensure they are done before removing them from the oven.
6. Tip out onto wire racks. The original recipe suggests using a knife to loosen the edges; mine were very loose already so I did not bother.
7. Cool before decorating.

Peanut Butter Frosting:
(The original recipe as found on the website referenced above says to use 1 1/2 to 2 batches of the frosting. I made 1 1/2 just in case, but ended up with too much. You should have plenty with just one batch)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used margarine)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

1. Mix ingredients from powdered sugar through salt in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy.
2. Add cream and mix until frosting is "light and smooth" - or, in other words, it looks like something you would want to use to frost a cake.... 

Assembly:

1. Place one cake round on a plate, cake tray, or whatever you want it to remain on.
2. Cover the top with frosting.
3. I used some crushed Reese's Peanut Butter Cups as a filling in the center; after mashing them with a potato masher, I sprinkled the pieces on top of this layer.
4. Put a little bit of frosting on the surface of the other cake that you want to face the center. Place it frosting side down onto the other cake, making sure it is centered.
5. Continue frosting the cake by covering all exposed surfaces of the cakes with your peanut butter frosting.
6. To finish, you can cut some more Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in half and arrange them on the cake. I also crushed some more candies and sprinkled them on the top of the cake.
7. Serve with ice cream of your choice.... or not :o)

using a paper towel to grease cake pan

cake pans, greased & floured

Cream of Tartar + Milk = substitution for buttermilk

Everything for the cake!

Melted chocolate chips and cake batter

Cakes cooling

Frosting ingredients

Frosting... not mixed yet

Peanut Butter Frosting

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

A potato masher works very well to mash Reese's

Cake 2 ready to be placed on top of Cake 1

Finished Product.

Yum!

oxox

Indian Fry Bread

I made this for the first time in a cooking class in high school. I made it for the second time recently at home. Thomas likes to eat these with honey on them.

Indian Fry Bread
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 Tbsp powdered milk
3/4 cup water
vegetable oil for frying

1. Combine dry ingredients. Add water and knead.
2. Divide dough into about 4 equal parts. Flatten into 1/4-inch-thick rounds.
3. Heat oil to approx. 375°F in a pan for deep-frying.
4. Place one round in oil at a time; fry on both sides until golden brown.
5. Drain oil and serve.

oxox

Carrot Cake

 

This was introduced to Thomas by a missionary roommate and adapted to U.S. specifications. It's been much enjoyed by many a person, but the most devout connoisseur would be my brother-in-law, Saki (blog).

Carrot Cake

Cake
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
1 C oil
4 eggs
2 C flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 t cinnamon
3 C shredded carrots (about 3 large carrots)

1. Mix sugar, oil, and eggs together.
2. Add dry ingredients and then carrots.
3. Pour into a 9x13 pan.
4. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 350°F.

Frosting
1/2 C soft butter
8 oz. cream cheese
2 C powdered sugar
vanilla

1. Beat soft (but not melted) butter and cream cheese together.
2. Mix in vanilla and powdered sugar.
3. Spread on cooled cake.
4. Chill the tempting delicacy in the fridge.

David G., Lisa's friend's husband (the couple with which we had dinner a couple weeks ago) enjoying our carrot cake