For those of you who are outside my small world it was my birthday last week, which usually means ample celebrating occurs, along with plenty of baking opportunities. I take birthdays and celebrating very seriously (only until the fun-having starts), and typically engage in a week-long festive celebration involving as many of my friends and family as possible. For some reason this year was different. My desire to celebrate was near non-existent and the usual urge to bake completely missing. That might partly explain why these cupcakes (which turned out more like muffins) failed me. My heart just wasn't in it. Hideous little things, aren't they? Happy birthday to me...er, or maybe not.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Failures & Moving On
For those of you who are outside my small world it was my birthday last week, which usually means ample celebrating occurs, along with plenty of baking opportunities. I take birthdays and celebrating very seriously (only until the fun-having starts), and typically engage in a week-long festive celebration involving as many of my friends and family as possible. For some reason this year was different. My desire to celebrate was near non-existent and the usual urge to bake completely missing. That might partly explain why these cupcakes (which turned out more like muffins) failed me. My heart just wasn't in it. Hideous little things, aren't they? Happy birthday to me...er, or maybe not.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Basil Lime Cookies
I don't know about you, but every so often I need a pick me up. A heart warming, happy feeling, good time pick me up. The kind that leaves you smiling and dreamy eyed, recalling good moments of your life. Sometimes this pick me up comes in the form of a sunny day, a snuggle session with Bert the Cat, or even an impromptu car ride through the woods. And occasionally I turn to a new recipe to brighten my spirits. Most recently I turned to these lovely babies - Basil Lime Cookies. Now before you starting judging how odd a cookie would taste with basil AND lime in the ingredients list, I implore you to take a bite out of one of these. You can thank me later. I made a batch of these for my new dentist's office and hot damn, did they love me for it. That's winning in my book!
Mmmmm, cookies that defy the laws of nature. My favorite! The most common remark from taste testers: surprisingly refreshing, and highly addictive. Score! Cookies that leave you wanting more, again I consider this a success. It's an easy recipe, with simple ingredients, and may even make an appearance on the 2013 cookie tray spread (wow, the holiday season is creeping up fast!).
And in other news, my photography side project is slowly taking shape. Feel free to swing by the blog and/or the facebook page to check out what's been in my viewfinder of late. Happy baking!!
Basil Lime Cookies
Borrowed from: Big Fat Baker
Roll 1 tbsp of dough to make a little sphere. Repeat with remaining dough. Place about 1 inch apart on the cookie sheets.
Mmmmm, cookies that defy the laws of nature. My favorite! The most common remark from taste testers: surprisingly refreshing, and highly addictive. Score! Cookies that leave you wanting more, again I consider this a success. It's an easy recipe, with simple ingredients, and may even make an appearance on the 2013 cookie tray spread (wow, the holiday season is creeping up fast!).
Basil Lime Cookies
Borrowed from: Big Fat Baker
- 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- Zest of 1 lime
- 3 tbsp very finely chopped fresh basil leaves (I used a wee bit more here)
- 1 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
Pre-heat
the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line the cookie sheets with a silicone
mat or parchment paper.
In a stand
mixer (or hand-held mixer) cream together the butter and sugars until light and
fluffy.
Mix in the
egg, vanilla, zest, and basil. Mix together until fully combined.
In a
separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Then mix into the
butter mixture until combined.
Roll 1 tbsp of dough to make a little sphere. Repeat with remaining dough. Place about 1 inch apart on the cookie sheets.
Bake 8 to
12 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies/oven. Allow to
cool on a cooling rack for a few minutes then watch how fast they disappear!
Labels:
baking,
basil,
comfort food,
cookies,
dessert,
easy cooking,
lime
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Chocolate & Peanut Butter Swirl Bundt Cake
Oh yes, I'm bringing the bundt cake back. Honestly I have a hard time finding things wrong with bundt cakes. For starters, the cake pan does most of the work. And if it looks or tastes bad, you can smother it with a glaze or frosting. Bundt cakes always seem to feed more and go farther than others. Mixing chocolate and peanut butter seemed the right approach to me, and hence this beautiful gem was born (borrowed).
A fairly straight forward recipe here, nothing much to it. And I bet most of you have the ingredients in your cupboards this very moment. As with most things I bake, I ate my small share (i.e. tax) and quickly gifted the rest away before I engaged in too much crumby behavior.
Just in case you haven't been by his website page yet, Burt the Cat is doing great and getting into his pesky kitty phase. He's becoming quite the ham! Feel free to swing by and check out his plans to slowly take over the world (and drive me insane).
Enjoy the baking, everyone!
Chocolate & Peanut Butter Swirl Bundt Cake
Borrowed From: Hungry Couple
Add the peanut butter to one bowl, beat until smooth and fold in the first bowl of flour, baking powder and baking soda.To the second bowl, fold in the flour mixture with the cocoa powder.
Butter and flour a 12 cup bundt pan. Add half the peanut butter batter to the pan, followed by half the chocolate batter, followed by the second half of the peanut butter batter and topped off with the final half of the chocolate batter. Using a butter knife, gently swirl the batters together but do not over mix.
Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool very well before removing from the pan. Makes approximately 10 servings.
A fairly straight forward recipe here, nothing much to it. And I bet most of you have the ingredients in your cupboards this very moment. As with most things I bake, I ate my small share (i.e. tax) and quickly gifted the rest away before I engaged in too much crumby behavior.
Just in case you haven't been by his website page yet, Burt the Cat is doing great and getting into his pesky kitty phase. He's becoming quite the ham! Feel free to swing by and check out his plans to slowly take over the world (and drive me insane).
Enjoy the baking, everyone!
Chocolate & Peanut Butter Swirl Bundt Cake
Borrowed From: Hungry Couple
- 2 Cups all purpose flour, divided
- 2 Teaspoons baking powder, divided
- 1 Teaspoon baking soda, divided
- 1/4 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 Cups sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 2 Sticks unsalted butter
- 3/4 Cup water
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Cup peanut butter
Add the peanut butter to one bowl, beat until smooth and fold in the first bowl of flour, baking powder and baking soda.To the second bowl, fold in the flour mixture with the cocoa powder.
Butter and flour a 12 cup bundt pan. Add half the peanut butter batter to the pan, followed by half the chocolate batter, followed by the second half of the peanut butter batter and topped off with the final half of the chocolate batter. Using a butter knife, gently swirl the batters together but do not over mix.
Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool very well before removing from the pan. Makes approximately 10 servings.
Labels:
bundt,
cake,
chocolate,
comfort food,
dessert,
easy cooking,
peanut butter,
sweet
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