Princess Peach Pound cake

Hey! It's great to be back! I've had a very busy last month or so. But here we are back in the swing of things! Yay!
I am trying something new! I will be attempting to do geek inspired desserts and baked goods as much as possible! (lots of exclamation marks I know but it's so exciting) I really want to bring my passion for baking and my love of geekdom together. 
So this week I was planning on making lemon pound cake, and then it struck me, Princess Peach Pound cake! So I took a slight twist, I made the lemon pound cake as the center and then made a peach pound cake around that, and then topped it off with princess pink icing.

Lemon Pound Cake
350 F
cook time approx. 40 minutes

cake flour 1 1/2 cups
baking powder 1/4 tsp
salt 1/4 tsp
butter, soft 1/4 pound (1 stick)
sugar 1 1/2 cups
lemon juice 1/8 cup
eggs 3 each
lemon zest 1/2 lemon
sour cream 1/2 cup

cream butter and sugar together in mixer with paddle attachment. add eggs, one at a time, then lemon juice, zest, and sour cream. mix till smooth. add cake flour, baking powder, and salt. mix till just combined. bake in 1 standard sized loaf pan at 350 F for approximately 40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Peach Pound Cake

same as lemon pound cake minus the lemon juice and zest. I only added 1 fresh diced peach. 

Icing

mix powdered sugar with water till desired consistency, add food coloring if desired.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Scones

I made scones! (again...) I know, I know, I already made scones...well those were savory and these are sweet! I love love love love these scones! I first tried the recipe out at work and they went over great! The scone itself is not overly sweet, it's nicely spiced, not over powering. I would eat these every morning if I would make myself make them all the time. 

I don't have an amazing story about these, except for the fact that they are awesome. So I'm just going to jump right into the recipe for you. Please try them!


Brown Sugar Cinnamon Scones

yield approximately 8 scones

egg  1 each
baking powder 1 Tablespoon
brown sugar 1/2 cup
ground cinnamon 2 teaspoons
flour 2 cups
salt 1 1/2 teaspoons
vanilla 2 teaspoons
unsalted butter, cold 6 Tablespoons
heavy whipping cream 3/4 cup

Icing
powdered sugar
cinnamon
water/cream

Preheat oven to 350 F
Combine all your dry ingredients. Add butter in cubes with paddle attachment until the mixture is crumbly. Then slowly add your vanilla, eggs, and cream. Mix until just combined, do not over mix. 
Form dough into a thick even circle on a floured surface. Cut into 8 wedges. Place on parchment lined sheet pan and bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes, or until firm. 
Let cool. Then to make icing: just combine powdered sugar with cinnamon, then add either water or cream until the consistency desired. Add more powdered sugar if too runny, add more liquid if too thick. And then ice your scones and enjoy!

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

I ended up deciding to make cornbread for you all today. I am trying to come up with something fairly different each week. I was really at a loss this week trying to figure out what to make that wasn't cookies or scones again. Then it struck me, while I was making about 8 full sheets of cornbread at work this week, that this was the answer, cornbread! 

This is a really nice recipe. It's moist, cakey, and not too sweet. The cheddar cheese and the jalapenos are optional; this can be just as good on its very own. So without further ado.... I present Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread! (*drool...)

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

350 F

bake time 20-30 minutes

flour 3 cups 

cornmeal (or polenta) 1 cup

sugar 1/4 cup

baking powder 2 tablespoons

salt 1 teaspoon

eggs 3 each

buttermilk 2 cups

butter, melted 10 ounces

jalapenos, diced 4-6

cheddar cheese, shredded 2 cups

whisk together all your wet ingredients. in a separate bowl combine and mix together all you dry ingredients. then slowly add your dry to your wet ingredients and mix until combined. then add your jalapenos and cheese (save or add extra cheese for topping)

spray a 15x10 baking dish and pour in batter, then sprinkle with more cheddar cheese. bake at 350 F for 20-30 mins, until cornbread is firm. 

Enjoy! 

Brownies!!

Hey! It's great to be back, I have been crazy busy so I made something that seems easy for a pastry cook. But this is the first thing I ever made on my own when I was a kid. They are still my favorite brownies and I still make them exactly like I did growing up. I honestly don't think I've ever come across a brownie that is similar to this one before. Most brownies are either very cake like, or very fudgey and rich. This one is more on the cakey side but doesn't have leavener in it so it's denser than cake but not fudgey. I absolutely love this brownie. I top it with canned chocolate frosting (I know! shame shame on me), but frosting out of a can is good that's why it sells so well. You are more than welcome to make your own frosting, or leave it naked, or dust it with powdered sugar, all are good options. Anyway here's the recipe enjoy!


Brownies
Preheat oven 350 F

margarine 1/4 cup
eggs 4 each
flour 1 cup
salt 1/2 tsp
vanilla 1 tsp
sugar 1 cup
Hershey's Syrup 1 16 oz can

cream sugar and margarine. add eggs. then add flour salt and vanilla till just combined, then add chocolate. 
spray a 9x13 pan pour in batter. bake at 350 F for 20-30 mins (till toothpick comes out clean) then cool, frost, and enjoy! 

bacon chocolate chip cookies! oh my!

This week's creation is bacon chocolate chip cookies. The best salty, sweet, soft, chewy, delicious treat around! I know adding bacon to anything is all the rage now, but it's true! Bacon really makes almost anything better! The first time I had even heard of these is when I started working at a bakery in Chicago. I was blown away that I hadn't seen these before, because they are sooooo good! 
This isn't the recipe from said bakery, but it's still incredible. You could really take any chocolate chip cookie recipes and just add chopped bacon to it. You can use as much or as little bacon as you like. 

This is a picture of my batter, so you can see the bacon and how like the chocolate chips you want enough to have some in every cookie but not so much that you overload your cookie. 






On another note, I unfortunately won't be able to post next week because I will be out of town on my days off and won't have time to make anything or write. 

Now onto the recipe!!

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
yield: 2 dozen (24 cookies)

soft unsalted butter  3/4 pound
sugar  1 cup
brown sugar  1 cup
eggs   3 each
vanilla extract  1 1/2 tsp
all purpose flour  3 1/4 cups
baking soda   1 1/2 tsp
salt   1 1/2 tsp
chocolate chips   3 cups
bacon, diced   6 slices

Preheat oven to 350 F. While oven is preheating bake bacon till done (or cook bacon however you like). While bacon is cooking, cream butter and sugars together till smooth. Then add eggs and vanilla, beat till smooth. Add flour, baking soda, and salt, mix till just combined. Then add chocolate chips and diced bacon, mix till just combined. Can scoop and bake immediately or can chill batter till use later. Or scoop and freeze cookie dough to be baked later (can pull and bake frozen). Bake for 7 minutes rotate then bake 7 minutes. Let cool and enjoy! Caution these are addicting!

Savory Scones

This week I made savory scones. At the request of my husband he wanted jalapeno cheddar scones. As we go shopping for the ingredients I asked if he really wanted cheddar or if he'd prefer something else? He opted for pepper jack (I knew he would). Then I asked how bout adding some bacon? He said do you have to ask?! Then while I was picking out some fresh jalapenos, he saw them.... the tiny, orange, deadly habanero... He couldn't be more excited to ask if I could add those as well. So this simple jalapeno cheddar scone evolved into a bacon, pepper jack, jalapeno, habanero scone! Wow!

The recipe I used is one I've used before that I found on pinterest. It was for a bacon, cheddar, scallion scone (which by the way is delicious!), and I tweaked it to my needs for the hubby's dream scone.

Some suggestions:1) I like to bake my bacon while my oven is preheating, but you are more than welcome to cook your bacon any way you like as long as it's cooked. 2)  Also if you are lucky, unlike me, buy pre-shredded cheese. I couldn't find shredded pepper jack (I have seen it before) so I had to grate the cheese myself, which isn't hard but c'mon who wants to do that? 3) Big one! While dicing habaneros wear gloves! Oh my goodness wear gloves! I have never worked with this pepper before, I know better than to touch my face or anything after handling peppers but my fingers literally got burned from them. 4) Sprinkle some flour onto your counter and press the dough into a thick flat circle and cut into 8 wedges (see picture) I like doing it that way the best, or you can form the dough into a rectangle and cut wedges, or be unconventional and make crazy shaped scones! Be creative!

Bacon, Pepper Jack, Jalapeno, Habanero scones:

preheat oven to 400 F

yield 8 scones

bacon, diced   6 slices

all purpose flour     10 ounces

baking powder   2 tsp

sugar       1 tsp

salt     1/2 tsp

cheese, shredded   5 ounces

cold butter, cubed   5 Tb

heavy cream     2/3 cup

jalapenos,diced  2 each

habaneros, diced   2  each

measure flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into mixing bowl. add cold butter and paddle till mixture looks crumbly. add cheese and peppers mix till ingredients are dispersed. add heavy cream, mix until just combined. press dough into desired shape and cut 8 wedges. bake at 400 F for 10 minutes, rotate then bake another 10 minutes. Bottoms should be golden brown, and middles firm. 

Banana bread! yum!

So yesterday's baking experience was banana bread. I had 3 lovely bananas that were getting too ripe for eating. I wish I had taken a picture of the bananas to show the coloring. I really should've  let them go another day or two. The more ripe (brown) they get the more flavor they'll give your bread. If you have bananas that are too ripe to eat and don't have time to utilize them right away I recommend peeling them and freezing them. You can pull them anytime you have the urge to make some delicious banana bread or muffins or use them in a smoothie!
Now the recipe I used is the one my mother used, who by the way hates bananas but would make banana bread for us because my dad my brother and myself love bananas  <3. My dad would take a couple of slices and smear them with butter and pop them in the microwave for a few seconds; so it would be nice and warm and buttery. Yum!
My mom's recipe calls for either shortening or margarine. I prefer to use margarine or if you have room temperature butter will work great too! This time I didn't have margarine in the house and I was too impatient to wait for butter to warm up, so I used shortening.  It works in a pinch but I feel you lose some flavor using it. This is a simple yet delicious recipe, which you can make your own by adding chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit,  or anything that strikes your fancy!
My daughter and I had fun making this together, she's 18 months old, she had a blast mashing the bananas for me. And for her first taste of banana bread it seems as if she is a fan! If you all give it a try I hope you like it as much as she and I do!

Banana bread:
Ingredients -
Shortening, margarine, or butter (room temperature ) 1/2 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Eggs 2 each
Bananas 3 each
Flour 2 cups
Baking soda 1 tsp
Salt pinch

Preheat oven 350° F
Cream margarine and sugar together. Add eggs beat till smooth. Add mashed bananas. Then add flour, baking soda,  and salt. Mix till just combined.
Pour batter into greased loaf pan, bake 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.