Coffee Crumb Cake

I made a homemade coffee cake today. I like to bake something special for Valentine's Day each year, and this is the treat I made this time around!

The recipe is very easy and the results are impressive. What a perfect thing to make as a dessert treat or to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee in the morning.

Ingredients:

Cake mixture:
1 stick of butter, softened
2 cups flour
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. Baking soda
Dash of salt
3/4 cup milk

Crumb topping:
3 tbsp. Butter, softened
1 tbsp. Cinnamon
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions:

Cake mixture:
In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, being sure to scrape down the sides of the mixer to get all of it incorporated. Then, add in the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Now, in a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add about half of the dry ingredients into the mixer with the wet ingredients, and mix. Once combined, pour in the milk and mix again until the milk is mostly incorporated. Now, add in the rest of the dry ingredients and mix again. At this point the cake mix is done. The batter will be very stiff.

Crumb topping:
In a bowl, add the butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Use a fork to mash up the softened butter and pat together the ingredients until large crumb pieces are formed.

Assembly:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a square baking dish that is greased or nonstick, pour in the cake batter and smooth it out evenly. Now, sprinkle on the crumb topping evenly on the top. Bake for about 40 minutes until the center of the cake is completely cooked.

Enjoy!

Homemade Gingerbread Loaf

Happy Holidays, readers!  Being that Christmas was a few days ago, I was very busy in the kitchen baking homemade goods for everyone in my family.  Altogether on Christmas Eve, I made three gingerbread loaves, a chocolate cake, and a coconut cake.  Not to mention that I put together two buffalo chicken dips for appetizers as well!  I enjoyed making the homemade gingerbread because it was a new recipe that I tried, and it is seasonally appropriate, which is why I am sharing it today.  This recipe makes an old fashioned gingerbread loaf that can be enjoyed for breakfast or as a dessert.

Ingredients:

2 tsp. ground ginger
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups flour 
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup molasses 
1 tsp. confectionary sugar (optional)

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and the melted butter, and then add in the eggs, vanilla, milk, syrup, and molasses.  Thoroughly combine these ingredients, and then add these into the dry ingredients.  Mix everything together, being careful not to mix it too much or the batter will be stiff.  Pour the batter into a non-stick loaf pan, and bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.  When it's done, you can sprinkle a bit of confectionary sugar on top of the loaf before serving. 

Enjoy!

This is a photo of the coconut cake that I baked - it came out great!

 

Christmas Cookies

This weekend, my boyfriend and I started a new tradition by baking Christmas cookies together.  Although our kitchen was quite the mess afterwords, it was fun and we ended up with some great cookies!  So today I'm sharing a classic recipe for Peanut Butter Blossoms, and a recipe that was new to me, for Candy Cane Cookies.  

Here are the recipes; each yields two dozen cookies.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:

1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
24 Hershey kisses 

Instructions:

In a mixer, cream together the peanut butter, butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is creamy.  Next, add in the egg and vanilla and mix all of this together.  Now, add the flour, salt, and baking soda.  Mix slowly until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated and the dough is thoroughly blended.  Form the dough into balls, and place onto a baking sheet.  Bake these at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.  While they are baking, unwrap all of the Hershey kisses.  When the cookies come out of the oven, press one of the Hershey kisses into the center of each one of the cookies.  Enjoy!

 

Candy Cane Cookies

Ingredients:

1 egg
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. red food coloring
1 tsp. peppermint extract (optional; you can also use almond extract instead)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla 
2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature 
 
Instructions:

Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixer.  When it's smooth, add the egg and vanilla.  Traditionally these cookies are made with a peppermint flavor, but you can opt to use almond extract instead if peppermint isn't your favorite flavor.  You can also leave out either flavor and have a really wonderful sugary and buttery cookie instead.  After adding the egg and vanilla, if you are using the peppermint or almond extract, add it in now, and mix everything together.  Once it's mixed well, add the flour and salt and mix slowly until everything is incorporated.  Once the dough is done, you are going to take half of it and flatten it into a circle and then wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.  With the other half of the dough still in your mixing bowl, add the red food coloring and mix it in until your dough is a bright red color.  Now, press this dough into a circle as well and wrap in plastic wrap, and then place this in the fridge.  Leave the dough in the fridge for about an hour.  Once it's been an hour, take your dough out of the fridge and get ready for the fun part.  You can either roll the dough out and cut each circle of dough into 24 strips of equal size.  Or, you can pinch the dough into pieces of equal size, which is what I did.  Once you have the strips or the pieces ready, you are going to roll each one and then twist together a red piece with a regular dough piece and form them into candy cane shapes.  Lay all of these onto baking sheets and bake at 350 degrees for about 12-14 minutes, or until the ends of the candy canes start to look golden brown.  These are done!  Enjoy them with a mug of hot cocoa or coffee, or even just a glass of milk.  

Here are the circles of dough prior to being refrigerated.

This is what the cookies looked like before being put into the oven.

The finished product!

Can't wait to enjoy these with a hot cup of cocoa!

 

Enjoy!!!

Chicken Lazone

This recipe for chicken lazone is one that I found on Pinterest, and then I tweaked it to make it more suitable to my taste.  This dish was a huge hit and it was even a success with my boyfriend, who is a very picky eater.  Not bad for trying out a new recipe!

Ingredients:

1 lb. of chicken breast or tenders  (boneless & skinless)
1/4 stick of butter
1/2 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
1/4 tbsp. salt
Pinch of pepper
1/2 tsp. ground oregano(optional)

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)  
1/3 cup of heavy cream
1/2 lb. of pasta (I chose to use linguine - you can choose whatever noodle style you like)

 Instructions:

Add half of the butter to a pan and bring to medium heat. Meanwhile, cut the chicken into strips. Then put the chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper into a bowl, and toss the chicken pieces into the spices to cover them. Now, add the chicken to the pan, and cook for about four minutes on each side. When the chicken is cooked, take it out of the pan and set it aside. Then turn the heat down a bit, and add the rest of the butter to the same pan you cooked the chicken in. Once melted, add the heavy cream. Let this simmer while you boil the pasta. The cream sauce should simmer for about seven to ten minutes, and you should stir it occasionally. The cream and butter will mix with the spices that were on the chicken, and make a simple but creamy sauce. When the pasta is done, pour some of the cream sauce over it, add the chicken, and then garnish with a bit of extra oregano and red pepper flakes if you'd like.

Enjoy!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

In the spirit of football season, I decided to make some game day foods since we are watching the Patriots game.  So I made my buttermilk fried chicken wings and tried a new recipe for spinach artichoke dip!  It was amazingly good and so easy.  It's a crock pot recipe, which of course are my favorite since you toss in the ingredients and then let it do its thing until you're ready to eat.

Here's my recipe:

Ingredients:
10 oz. Frozen spinach, thawed
8 oz. Cream cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated parmesan
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can/jar artichokes (not marinated)

Instructions:
In the crock pot, add all of the cheeses and cream cheese, then toss in the minced garlic.  Before you add the spinach, make sure that you've broken it up a bit with a fork to make sure its not in large chunks, and then add that to the crock pot.  Lastly, drain the water out of the can or jar of artichokes, and then dice them into small pieces, and add it to the crock pot.  Give this all a stir and then cook on high for two hours.  Half way through, open the lid and stir everything again.

Enjoy!!!

This Fall's Brussel Sprout Harvest

Last Fall I posted pictures of our first ever harvest of brussel sprouts, and that time has come again!  Ever since my Mom and I became obsessed with roasted brussels, we wanted to see if they would grow well in the garden, and they do!  The interesting thing about this vegetable is that you can't pick them until it gets colder.  Typically, you wait until after the first frost of the season but it's been cold enough at night that we thought we would harvest some and see how they taste.  

 Today we picked one stalk of them, with many more stalks left in the garden.  Here's what we got:

To recap our easy recipe for cooking these on the stovetop...

Add 2 tbsp. of olive oil to a saucepan, with 2 cloves of crushed garlic.  When this heats up and the garlic is sizzling, add the brussel sprouts (first you will rinse them and chop each one in half.)  Then, add a good sprinkle of coarse salt, pepper, and the juice of half a lemon.  Let the brussels roast until the edges gets crispy and golden brown.  Enjoy!
 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondies

I've been away from the blog for a bit, but I'm back with a new pumpkin-inspired recipe!  It's finally autumn again, and I'm always determined to try new seasonal recipes.  These blondie bars are easy to make, and they are a wonderful treat for a snack or a dessert. 

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients: 

2 cups flour
1/2 tbsp. nutmeg
1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened, canned pumpkin
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions: 

In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.  When it is smooth, add in the egg and vanilla extract.  Now, add the pumpkin puree and mix everything together until well-combined.  Add in the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, and mix on a low speed until everything is mixed.  Now, fold in the chocolate chips.  The batter will be like a stiff cookie batter at this point.  Spread the mixture into a greased pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. 

*yields 24 bars*