poppyseed bread

i made some homemade goodies for a few gifts this year. one of them being this poppyseed bread. i'd like to thank my oldest sister for being hot enough to have a suitor have his mom make this bread and send it to her with the recipe... cause this bread is amazing.
it has a delicious glaze to make the edges crispy, sweet and mouthwatering.

here is the recipe.

3 cups flour
2 ½ cup sugar
1 ½ t. salt
1 ½ t. baking powder
3 eggs
1 ½ cup milk
1 1/8 cup oil
1 ½ T. poppy seeds
1 ½ t. vanilla
1 ½ t. almond extract
1 ½ t. butter flavoring

Mix together and beat 2 minutes. Bake in 2 large loaf pans (greased) at 350 for 1 hour. As soon as out of oven, pour glaze over bread after poking a few holes in bread with toothpick. Be careful to brush it on slowly so that it can be absorbed.

¾ cup sugar
¼ cup orange juice
½ t. vanilla
½ t. almond extract
½ t. butter flavoring

Take out of pans when cooled.

egg nog punch

this is a perfect beverage for the christmas season. we used to have it every new years eve at my egg nog loving brother's request.

1 quart egg nog
2 cups milk
2 (24 oz.) bottles 7-up (don't use sprite or any of the other options, 7-up really is the best for this)
1 quart vanilla ice cream

combine. let ice cream dissolve in punch so that it looks light and fluffy.

the best ever sugar cookies

add veeda's request, an amazing sugar cookie recipe. i love, love, love these. they are not dry like most sugar cookies. they are light almost like a cookie muffin. they make a lot, too. these will be a great cookie to make for company for the holiday season. or just anytime at all.

cream:
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar

beat in:
4 eggs
2 T. milk
4 t. vanilla
1 T. lemon extract (this slight lemon flavor really sets these cookies apart. it's not enough that a citrus hater would be turned off)

add:
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
5 cups flour

chill 30 minutes to an hour. form into balls then smash down with bottom of floured glass (about 1/4 inch thick, these cookies should be about the same thickness as those pink grandma sycamore's cookies and a little smaller in circumference.) bake at 375° for 6-8 minutes.

frosting:
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. shortening
1 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt
4 c. powdered sugar
2-4 T. milk

in large bowl, beat butter and shortening until light and fluffy. add vanilla and salt. beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, scraping down sides of bowl. add 2 T. milk; beat at high speed until light and fluffy. add enough additional milk for desired spreading consistency. **(this frosting may be made up to 2 weeks in advance and kept in and airtight container before serving. bring to room temperature before serving)**

christmas cookies: spritz

another christmas classic is the spritz cookie. little butter cookies formed with a cookie press like this. i love these little cookies and have OD'd on them more than once.

1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. butter, softened
1/2 t. vanilla
1 egg
2 1/3 c. flour
1/4 t. salt

heat oven to 400 degrees. in large bowl, beat sugar, butter, vanilla and egg until light and fluffy. stir in flour and salt; blend well. fill cookie press; press onto ungreased cookie sheets. sprinkle with desired candies and bake. cool completely. makes 5 dozen.

wassail party

so, i had a wassail party and made my mom's insanely good citrus wassail. i didn't get a chance to take a picture of it but i found something online that looks pretty close.

this recipe gets RAVE reviews and is very much one of my favorite things about the holiday season. my mom always keeps some on hand for me.

1 quart water
2 1/4 c. sugar
10 cloves
8 allspice berries
2 sticks cinnamon
1 piece of candied ginger
2 quarts apple cider or juice
1 quart orange juice (i like the extra pulp kind)
2 c. lemon juice

mix water and sugar; boil for 5 minutes. remove from heat. stir in cloves, allspice berries, cinnamon and ginger. let stand 1 hour or more. strain. stir in apple cider, orange juice, and lemon juice. serve warm. yield: 16 servings.

granola

my oldest sister, kristin told me about this granola the other day and it's so delish and easy to make.


1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

mix together and then add:

3 cups oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sliced almonds

Mix together and pour onto greased cookie sheet (i used a silpat and i think it helps it to not burn.) Bake at 350 for 20 minutes stirring often. Add handful of raisins while cooling (i put them in the last few minutes so they'd plump up a bit.)

packaging is everything

these would make my cupcakes so much better! thanks for the link, whoolia.

brownie muffins

so, i've been trying to find a recipe for brownies that can be made from scratch that can be better than box brownies. which is really hard. the box just kind of "kills" it. they are so good. also, i have documented my love for corner pieces so i decided to try them in a muffin pan so it would have "corners" all around. however, i don't think they maintained the texture of a corner piece. maybe it would have worked better with silicone baking cups or paper liners or something. i will have to experiment some more.

here is the recipe from baking illustrated.

5 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into quarters
3 T. cocoa powder
3 large eggs, room temp.
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. salt
1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour


in a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost-simmering water, melt the chocolates and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. whisk in the cocoa until smooth. set aside to cool.

whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl until combined, about 15 seconds. whisk the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture; then stir the flour with a wooden spoon until just combined. pour the misture into the prepared muffin pans for 15 minutes. (or 8x8 pan for 35 to 40 minutes if you don't want to use the muffin pans)

butterhorn dinner rolls

ok, so these are the rolls my whole family goes crazy for and devours every holiday. this was the first time making them by myself so i had a few tips from my mom and oldest sister and figured i'd try to document the process so it would make it easier for anyone to figure this out in the future. so here goes the step by step tutorial.

1 T. yeast dissolved in 3 T. warm water and 1 t. sugar
1 c. salted (salted really makes a difference) butter
2 eggs, beaten
4 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. warm milk
1 t. salt

cream butter and sugar. add eggs. add alternatively flour (with salt), and milk and lastly, dissolved yeast. dough will be sticky and the consistency of cookie dough. refrigerate overnight. (the dough won't have risen really by morning) but will be pretty hard, so take out about 30 minutes before you want to start working the dough. cut in fourths.


roll out dough in as perfect a circle as you can. about 1/4 t0 1/8" thick. melt 1 stick of salted butter, spread over dough, then cut into wedges like so.

roll into horns from large to small end into horns like shown below. put on buttered (or i use a silpat - which i love) cookie sheet, cover with a dishtowel and raise for three hours. (fills two trays)


after 30 minutes, they look like this. not much more raised but, just a little bit.

bake at 350° for 20 minutes. brush hot rolls with more of the melted butter. serve as soon as possible.


enjoy these delicious. rolls. easy recipe but fairly time consuming and very worth the effort.

pumpkin cheesecake with praline sauce

so, another idea for thanksgiving dessert is another favorite, pumpkin cheesecake. it always goes over very well and is a great alternative to a traditional pie.

crust:
1 T. butter, softened
1 1/4 c. finely chopped pecans
1/4 c. fine dry bread crumbs
2 T. sugar
2 T. butter, melted

filling:
4 (8oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 c. sugar
5 eggs
1/4 c. flour
2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 (16oz.) can pumpkin

sauce:
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. butter
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c. chopped pecans (optional for non-nut lovers)
1/2 t. vanilla

heat oven to 350 degrees. butter 9" springform pan using 1 T. butter. in medium bowl, combine 1 1/4 c. pecans, bread crumbs and 2 T. sugar. drizzle melted butter oer pecan mixture; toss to combine. press into botom and up sides of buttered pan. refrigerate.

in large bowl, beat cream cheese at medium speed until smooth and creamy. gradually beat in 1 c. brown sugar and 2/3 c. sugar until smooth. at low speed, add 5 eggs, 1 at a time. beat just until blended. in small bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin; mix well. gradually add to cream cheese mixute; beat until smooth. pour into crust-lined pan.

bake at 350° for 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until center is set. turn oven off; let cake stand in oven 30 minutes with door open at least 4 inches. remove from oven. run sharp knife around sides of pan. cool to room temp. on wire rack. cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 6 hours.

in small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1/2 c. brown sugar, water and 1/4 c. brown sugar, water and 1/4 c. butter. bring to a boil; boil 2 minutes. gradually blend small amount of hot syrup into beaten egg. return egg mixture to saucepan; cook over low heat 1 minute, stirring constantly. remove from heat; stir in 1/4 c. pecans and vanilla. remove sides of pan from cheesecake. serve sauce slightly warm over wedges of cheesecake. store in refrigerator.

friendsgiving

so, this weekend is the annual friendsgiving. and i volunteered to make two pies and the yam-apple bake with the marshmallows. normally i always make pumpkin and pecan pie, but i'm thinking of trying something different. does anyone have a recipe they have been meaning to try but haven't or something they really love? i'd love to try some new recipes and post them later. so, if you have a link or a recipe you'd like to share, please do!

oreo mini cheesecakes

i'm posting pictures now and will post the recipes when i have time, later this week.

the original halloween doughnut recipe

unfortunately, i have no pictures of these... yet. but here is great grandma julia's classic recipe:

beat till frothy:
3 eggs

add, beating well:
1 1/4 c. sugar

add, stirring well:
2 T. melted butter
1 c. milk

stir in:
1 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 t. nutmeg
2 t. cinnamon (i like to add a little more)
4 c. flour

mix well—can chill for easier handling. Fry at 375° until done.

my sisters like to eat these plain, but my old roomate and i like to make cinnamon sugar topping or a glaze.

any of the doughnuts i've made, yeast or cake seem to only really be good the day that you make them. they lose their light texture after they cool off and sit for too long. let me know if any of you guys try either of these recipes!

doughnut party

that provided the recipe for cinnamon doughnuts. well, this year i wanted to relive my when we were kids, we would make doughnuts with our parents on halloween. i think it was my great grandma juliachildhood memories by making doughnuts on halloween (that and i was a halloween hater this year) but usually people hate on cake doughnuts so, i thought i'd try a yeast recipe. i found this one on the food network that turned out pretty well. i would not put in nutmeg the next time and i added more flour. i found another recipe online that is supposedly the krispy kreme recipe and i used the glaze part of it for these doughnuts.


Doughnuts
2 cups scalded milk
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons yeast
4 eggs (beaten)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
7 cups sifted flour

Glaze
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cold water

Melt butter in hot milk, add 1 tsp sugar and salt. Allow to cool.
Beat in yeast, nutmeg, eggs, remaining sugar, and 3 cups flour.
Add rest of flour (dough will be sticky).
Knead for 5 minutes then allow to rise for 1-1 1/2 hours.
Roll out dough, cut into shapes.
Do not re-roll dough, then allow to rise for 30-45 minutes.
Heat oil to 365° and fry 1 - 2 minutes on each side or until brown. Toss in the doughnut holes first, let those cook, and then proceed to cooking the donuts.
Let them cool on a paper towel - helps get the glaze to stick.
Dip in warm glaze.

i'd be interested in trying this recipe for the doughnut part when i have more time and see if it really is like the krispykremes. but i do have to say, next doughnut party, people are getting great grandma julia's recipe cinnamon doughnuts whether they like it or not.

pumpkin eater

today i made this bread. i was trying a new recipe but, i have to say that mother really does know best and my recipe from her really does kick all other pumpkin bread to the curb.

here is the recipe:

4 cups flour
1/2 t. nutmeg
4 cups sugar
1 29 oz. can pumpkin
4 t. baking soda
1 cup oil
1 t. salt
1 t. cloves
1 t. cinnamon
(my mom puts 2 c. raisins and 2 c. nuts, but personally, i would do 2 c. chocolate chips)

mix dry ingredients into a large bowl. add nuts and raisins (or choc. chips), then stir in pumpkin and oil. beat with wooden spoon until well blended. grease and flour 2 large or 3 medium loaf pans. pour in batter and bake in 325° oven for 1 1/4 hours to 1 1/2 hours. put toothpick in center to see if bread is done.

picture time

ok, so i finally made those cupcakes and peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. and these are the photos to prove it. enjoy!


ok, so i didn't have lime oil yet for the cupcakes so i just used the zest and juice of two limes. and i didn't have a blowtorch so, i broiled them on low in the oven, which worked great and is actually probably easier and faster than the blowtorch method.



these cookies are such a great version of peanut butter cookies. i swear, oats make everything better. i did one batch, cooking them at 11 minutes, and the second batch at 12, which made for a slightly chewy/crispier texture which i love in peanut butter cookies. also, i tried 4 different ways of storing them to see what help up the flavor/texture/etc. the best. method 1: wrap cookies in towel and put them in the microwave (too dry), method 2: cookie jar (too dry), method 3: tupperware (pretty good), method 4: ziplock bag (the best). none of them kept the perfect crispy texture that you have the same day that you cook them, but the ziplock kept the chewy moisture the best.

poll, please

ok, so i'm thinking about broek's suggestion that i start selling my goodies now, i want to know how many people would really buy them before i start investing in packaging etc. and would people be more likely to buy if they live near me or would you really buy things online for me to ship? please, if you ever read this blog, let me know what you think...

thanks,
-caroline

lemon meringue with a twist

i need to make these asap. holy crap, these look so amazing.

great grandma's apple crisp

this is the recipe from the apple crisp i made last week. thanks to great grandma julia for passing this recipe down.


slice peeled and cored apples to fill a 9x13" pan (i used 6 medium sized granny smith apples.) mix together the following and sprinkle over apples:

2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 c. butter
4 t. cinnamon

Bake at 375° for one hour. goes well with vanilla bean ice cream.
mmmmmm, deee-lish.

try a little tenderness

i think i'll try this recipe sometime this week or weekend. it looks pretty good and i love using oats. i'll let you know what i think.

cookie monster

ok, so i made apple crisp yesterday (great grandma king's apple crisp) and will post about it soon, but in the meantime, i am wondering if any of you have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that you swear by or that you want to try. i will try any and all. i think to have a bakery, you have to have the perfect cookie, so i'm trying to try everything at every bakery and all new recipes. please help me! please send me any recipe so that i can try to perfect this classic cookie.

xoxo,
ck

gettin busy

ok, so i've been super busy lately. i've made loads of things...

granola bars
german chocolate cupcakes (modified)
carrot cake
wheat bread
banana bread
pecan pie
banana bread pudding
caramel sauce
no-bake cookies

that's all i can think of off the top of my head. but, i've been so busy baking and sharing the goods and just working a lot, that i haven't had time to take pictures or post. so... i will post the recipes of the ones you guys want the most. are there recipes you've been wanting to learn or make or find a new version of? which one(s) on that list would you like to see get the recipe for and/or a picture?

also, if anyone has a recipe they've been wanting to try but haven't, feel free to send it to me to try for you and let you know how it went. i'm sure you all do just fine by yourselves, but i'd love to be a sort of a "test kitchen" if you will.

i like you guys!
-ck

blueberry short cake

blueberries. i love blueberries. here is a delicious blueberry upside down cake. one of our family favorites. it's great for breakfast. or basically anytime.

• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
• 
  
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch springform pan. In a medium bowl, combine blueberries, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest. Toss to coat berries, then pour into the prepared pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the almond extract and 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest. Stir together 2 cups flour and the baking powder. Beat into butter mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter over the berries in the pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Place serving plate over the top of the pan and carefully invert cake and plate together, so that the berries end up on top. Carefully unlock the buckle on the side of the pan and remove. Sprinkle toasted almonds on top of cake and serve warm.

won't you be my neighbor

i made amish friendship bread last week and let's just say, i think it helped me make a lot more friends. mmmmm, so yummy! thanks to big pimpin kim for the starter and the recipe. here it is:

this is after someone gives you a start. you can make your own and there are tons of recipes online telling you how to do so. you can freeze the start once it's made if you are not ready to use it.

****do not use any metal! do not use any type of metal spoons or bowls for mixing. do not refrigerate. when air builds up in the bag, let it out. it is normal for batter to raise bubbles and ferment.*****

day 1: do nothing. this is the day you receive the batter. make sure the bag is dated.
day 2: mush the bag
day 3: mush the bag
day 4: mush the bag
day 5: add to the bag: 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of milk, then mush the bag.
day 6: mush the bag
day 7: mush the bag
day 8: mush the bag
day 9: mush the bag
day 10: mix and divide the starter

pour entire contents of the bag into a non-metal bowl, add 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups of milk, and 1 1/2 cups sugar. mix together. separate mixture into 4 separate gallon ziplock bags and one non-metal mixing bowl (about 1 1/4 cups per portion). keep one ziplock for yourself and give away the other three to friends with a copy of the recipe.

preheat oven to 325 degrees. add to the remaining batter in the mixing bowl.

3 eggs
1 cup oil or 1/2 cup applesauce
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 3/4 - 2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 large box of instant pudding mix (any flavor -- i used chocolate)

**optional: 1 cup of nuts and/or raisins and/or chocolate chips -- i used chocolate chips

grease 2 large loaf pans or you can use pam cooking spray. mix in a small bowl: 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon. dust the greased loaf pans with the cinnamon mixture. pour the batter evenly into the 2 greased pans and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon mixture over the batter. bake 55-60 minutes. cool until the bread loosens from the pan (about 10 minutes). Turn out onto serving dish.

**note: if you have time restraint problems with any of the days, just put bag of starter in freezer and resume the day count where you left off when you take it out again.

at the end you get this! so good. however, i did have a hard time taking it out of the pan without all the cinnamon topping coming off, so we just served it straight out of the pan. if anyone has any suggestions for this sort of thing... let me know.

word of mouth

are there any bakery sites or blogs that you guys love? i am trying to bookmark some ideas/inspiration and i'd love to see anything you guys find yummy/dreamy/lovely, etc.

any input would be highly appreciated!

stand by me

how dreamy is this??



i covet it. you can find this adorable cupcake stand here.

i will be posting about banana bread, amish friendship bread and something else i might have forgotten. please don't be mad, it's been a crazy few weeks.

ps- happy birthday, whoolia!!

i love rhubarb

so, if you are a member of my family, you have to like rhubarb (sorry, courtney) and it's a good season for that now. so, i've made rhubarb pie and rhubarb bread lately. for the rhubarb pie, this is the right size of rhubarb chunk. it's about a quarter inch thick. for the rhubarb bread, it's about 1/16th inch thick.

now, i can't give you the actual pie recipe, cause that is forbidden by my mother. but, this one is pretty close.


so, for this bread, i basically added rhubarb to a coffee cake recipe and split it between two bread pans. the crumb topping from that bread i showed in the last post inspired the idea for turning this coffee cake into a rhubarb bread. this recipe is almost exactly like my mom's recipe. although, i don't use nuts at all. but if i did, i'd use pecans instead of walnuts. i hope you guys love rhubarb as much as i do and make some treats. if you have any other rhubarb recipes, please share them!

bake shop blueprint

so, when i was home for julia's wedding, i met up with my good friend tim, for lunch in oakland.

we had lunch and i told him about my bakery master plan so he told me about a bakery around the corner that was cool and of course, i wanted to check it out. you guys, it's my dream bakery! it's called bakesale betty.

it's in a great location, on telegraph, right by macarthur bart. it's close to some cool shops and it was pretty packed the whole time we were there. not to mention the super cute tables outside that are old re-painted ironing boards. my friend tonya said that they can be snooty sometimes, which is a downer, but other than that, it seems pretty much perfect.

we got some ginger cookies so i could compare them to the ones that i love and have made. we went outside and sat at one of the cute tables and the next thing i know, they bring us out this amazing lemon slush drink, for free.

then shortly after that, they bring us out what i thought was coffee cake, but turned out to be amazing banana bread. soooooo good! i am going to try to combine a few recipes to come up with something similar.

so, this is what i want my bakery to be like. just as yummy, just as fun. and, i might be trying out some banana bread recipes on willing taste testers.