Cinnamon Crumble Scones

This month's What’s Baking Challenge was Scones. I have to be honest I've been putting off making scones because it’s just one of those things that doesn't always come out looking like a true scone, but

this month I had no choice but to get it done, no excuses, no putting it off. I just had to roll up my sleeves and get it done.

I think the main thing holding me back was the fear that they wouldn't look like a scone. We all know that we eat with our eyes Frist. So if it didn't look like a scone then it wouldn't taste like one either.

The best way that I came up with to ensure that it looked like a scone was to bake them in a around dish. Which I'm happy to say was the best idea I had.

What I did was bake it until it was half way done then I took it out of the oven cut it triangles and then baked it on a cookie sheet unit they were completely baked.



Reicpe adpated from http://coffeetea.about.com/od/foodmeetsdrinks/r/Cinnamon-Scones-Recipe.htm

 

 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED FOR THE SCONES:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oatmeal, quick or old- fashioned, uncooked
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick chilled salted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup 2% milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (like always use the real stuff, you'll thank me later)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
 
WHAT YOU''LL NEED FOR THE GLAZE:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 to 4 teaspoons nonfat milk

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

 Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray 12x 18-inch round pan with nonstick spray.

 In a large bowl, combine flour, oatmeal, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt; mix well. Cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In a small bowl, combine milk, egg and vanilla; blend well. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir with fork or rubber spatula just until dry ingredients are moistened.

In another small bowl, combine remaining 2 Tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon; mix well.

Drop dough and spread in round dish.  Sprinkle cinnamon crumble mixture evenly over dough.

Bake half way and then cut into even triangels, then place on a cookie sheet and bake until golden brown.

Remove to wire rack; cool 5 minutes.

To make glaze: In small bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk for desired consistency; mix until smooth.

Drizzle over tops of warm scones. Serve warm.

Round up for Childhood Treats with a Modren Twist

Guess what time it is...

It's my turn to host the What's Baking Project! I was super excited to have the opportunity to host once more. I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to do, and decided that since it's September and it's back to school, it would be neat if we baked a childhood treat with a modern twist. I had a few ideas that I wanted to do, but  to be honest this month has been very stressful and busy that I didn't get around to making what I was really planning on making.  I'll just have to save that one for another time.  

So the next best thing was going with Twix bars.  I remember as a kid getting a Twix bar every Sunday after church. It's just one of those childhood memories that I'll never forget.

Kate from Kate recipe box mixed up a batch of Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, which reminds her of the cookies that her mother would bake for her as a child. 

Heather from hezzi-ds books and cooks Zumbaed her way into creating Caramel filled Chocolate chip cookies.  So easy I can't wait to try this. 



 



Eva from Eva bakes was able to relive a moment of her childhood when she baked up a batch of oatmeal cream pie cupcakes.  Which look amazing!

Angela from The Tiny Tyrant's Kitchen recalls her favorite childhood treat as being chocolate cupcakes.  Angela was able to Jazz them up by making them into salted Carmel cupcakes. 

Nicole from Seven ate nine Tried to save everyone’s waist line by baking up a batch of healthy leman squares.

Ok everyone now last but not least we have Jaida from Sweet Beginnings who transformed her childhood treat of chocolate chip ice cream,  into a Mint Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies.  OMG!  This is going on my baking bucket list. 

 

 

Thank you to all the took part in this month's What's baking.  Next month our host will be Jaida from Sweet Begginings and we'll be baking up batches for scones sweet or savory.  Time to start thinking on which direction I want to go with that one. 

 

Like always happy baking!

 

 

 





 



 

 

 







 



 



Twix Bars

Guess what time it is....It's my turn to host the What's Baking Project! I was super excited to have the opportunity to host once more. I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to do, and decided that since it was September and it's back to school, it would be neat if we baked a childhood treat with a modern twist. So I decided that I would make me some Twix bars. I remember as a kid getting a Twix bar every Sunday after church. It's just one of those childhood memories that I will never forget =)
 

I remember a while back I had come across this recipe for homemade Twix bars about, and I knew that I had to try them. With that said, I did make them , however I never had a chance to create a blog post for them. Time kept passing me by, and I just needed the right time to make them again. Lucky for me the right time just happened to be when I needed something for my What's Baking submission this month
 

This recipe does take a while from start to finish, but it was so worth it! I even ended up make a second batch because they were just that good. My family and I loved them so much that they disappeared within a matter of a few days.
 

 

Stay put my recap on all the submissions for this month's whats baking.  Like always happy baking.

Recipe source: King Arthur Flour

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

Shortbread layer

1 cup salted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups of Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Caramel layer

2 cups caramel, cut into small chunks
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Chocolate layer

3 cups chopped milk chocolate or dark chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening (optional)

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Preheat your oven to 300°F. Spray a 9" x 13" pan lightly with cooking spray, and line with parchment paper, and set aside.
FOR THE COOKIE LAYER:

In a stand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla.

Add the flour.

The mixture may seem dry, but will come together as you continue to beat at medium speed.

Once combined take the dough and press it evenly into the pan.

Prick the crust all over with a fork. The holes will allow steam to escape and the crust will bake evenly with fewer bubbles.

Bake the crust until it's lightly golden brown on top and the edges are deeper golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and immediately run a knife around the edges to loosen the crust.

Set it aside to cool completely.

FOR THE CARAMEL LAYER:

Melt the caramel and cream over low heat in a small saucepan.

Pour the caramel over the cooled crust and put it in your freezer while you prep the chocolate layer as it makes it easier to cut the into bars once it's harden up.

FOR THE CHOCOLATE LAYER:

Melt the milk chocolate slowly in a double boiler.

If it seems very thick, add a tablespoon of shortening to thin it.

Once melted take off the heat and set aside while you cut the cookie/carmel layer.

After the caramel layer has chilled firm, cut down the length of the pan, splitting the bars into two long, narrow bars.

Then cut each long strip into "fingers".

Dip the chilled bars into melted chocolate and place on parchment paper to set for several hours.

Pour yourself a tall glass of milk and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Icebox Pie What's Baking

Here it is....my submission for What's Baking. Our host Kim wanted everyone to submit a pie, which is fitting seeing that the holidays are upon us. You might be wondering why I picked such an easy pie. Well my response is, it's the holidays, I just had a baby, and I was hosting Thanksgiving.  Therefore I needed something that I wouldn't mess up. And in reading this recipe, I knew it was going to be a no fail on my end. I would encourage anyone looking for something easy to try this one, it didn't take more than 15 minutes to make and was a hit.

As you might have noticed, there is not much sugar in the filling. I was a little worried about this, but it was perfect. The Combination of with the cookie crust, caramel and peanut butter cups it is just wonderful and not overly sweet.

If you haven't heard of the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, you have to pick up copy it's great and has a lot of things that I want to try over the next few weeks.

Also make sure to check out Kim's blog and see her round up which should be up by December 1st. http://justbakedbyme.wordpress.com/

Like always, Happy Baking!

From The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

1 Pie crust
12 Ounces cream cheese, softened
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
1 Mini peanut butter cups, chopped
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 Cup caramel sauce
1/4 Cup chocolate sauce
Handful of chopped mini peanut butter cups

WHAT YOU'LL HAVE TO DO:

Beat cream cheese until fluffy, 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually, then beat in peanut butter and vanilla.

Whip the heavy cream in a separate bowl, then fold gently into the cream cheese mixture.

Fold in the peanut butter cups.

Spread the caramel on the bottom of the crust, then spread the filling over the caramel and smooth the top.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours,

Garnish with rest of mini peanut butter cups and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Strawberry Muffins

This month's Jaida wanted the what's baking challange to be baking with Summer Fruits. So what did I pick....that's right Strawberry Muffins. Two of my favorite things combined to make the best morning breakfast. I was so tired of the usual coffeecake, and blueberry muffin that I wanted to try something new and luckily enough I still have a some berries that really needed to get used up.

Needless to say this was an amazing recipe and can't wait to try it wimake it again.


WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1 1/2 cups finely chopped fresh strawberries (frozen one work well too)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup of white sugar (use in second part of recipe)
1/4 cup butter, softened (either unsalted or salted)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO DO:

In a small bowl, combine the strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar. Set aside for 1 hour.

After an hour Drain, reserving liquid and berries separately.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and 1/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the juice from the berries.

Gently stir in the berries. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Nutritional Information for each muffin...Calories 168, Fat 4.9g, Cholesterol 46mg

Homemade Cranberry Apple Granola

So for this month's What's Baking Challenge Ammie from my adventuresinmykitchen wanted everyone to bake with Spring Produce. Unfortunately, my visit over the past few weeks to my local farmer's market have been few and very far in between.

Besides the fact that I am now 22 weeks pregnant, I've also taken on a promotion with work, which has has me doing a lot of traveling over the past few weeks. So of course I wanted to make sure I had a few healthy treats at home while I'm away.

One thing that I know everyone in our home likes is granola. So I baked up another batch before I hit the road yet again this week. Good news is after this week I'll be home for at least the 3-4 weeks!

I Know that cranberries, and apples aren't spring time goods, but at least I could say that I got my apples at the farmer's market that Opened up again this month. =)I'm sure that Ammie will allow me to get away with it...this time.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do. Like always happy cooking and baking!

Recipe source: Giada De Laurentis

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
Nonstick cooking spray
1/3 cup maple syrup
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cranberry juice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup dehydrated cranberries
1 cup dehydrated apples

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread the pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds on a baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly toasted.

Set aside to cool.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the maple syrup, brown sugar, cranberry juice, and cinnamon over medium heat.

Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar has dissolved.

In a medium bowl, mix together the oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and salt.

Pour the maple mixture over the oat mixture and stir until combined.

Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven.

Stir in the cranberries and apples, and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until the mixture begins to brown.

Cool completely and break apart any large lumps.

Store airtight in a plastic container for up to 1 week.

Sourdough Bread (What's Baking)

I have to apologize for the fact that I've been MIA. Between being pregnant, and then having a sick child, then a sick husband, and then a sick child again. life seems to have gotten away for my. But just because I didn't post during that time frame doesn't mean I haven't been cooking and baking up a storm. Stay tone for a bunch of blog updates over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, let me start with this month's what baking challenge. This month Lindsay from http://peaceloveandfrenchfries.com/ is our host. Lindsay challenged everyone to bake with YEAST. Yes, yeast I'll admit I've baked with yeast before, but it still intimidates me at times, I don't know why, but it just does.

Lucky for me this time around I had another success! Please make sure to check out Lindsay's blog at the end of the month for a full roundup of what everyone submitted this time around.

Like always...Happy baking!

Recipe source: Allrecipes.com

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F to 115 degrees F), divided
7 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:
In a 4-qt. non-metallic bowl, dissolve yeast in 2 cups warm water and let stand for 5 minutes.

Stir in 2 cups of flour until smooth, once combined cover loosely with a clean towel.

Let stand in a warm place (80 degrees F-90 degrees F) to ferment for 48 hours during this period stir several times daily.

The mixture will become bubbly and rise, have a "yeasty" sour aroma and a transparent yellow liquid will form on the top.

Stir in milk powder, butter, sugar, salt, remaining water and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours.

Turn onto a floured surface; punch dough down.

Divide in half. Shape each into a round loaf.

Heavily grease a two loaf pans, and sprinkle with cornmeal.

Place dough on prepared pans, cover and allow it rise until doubled. This should take about 30 minutes.

With a sharp knife, make slashes down the middle of each loaf.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.

Brush loaves with cold water; bake 35-40 minutes longer or until golden brown.

What's Baking Challenge Roundup! Baking with Valentine's Colors

YA-HOOOOOOO! it's finally my turn to host this month's What's Baking Challenge! I got so many wonderful submission and I can't wait to try them all. Here what everyone baked up for February's baking with Valentine's Colors. Next month's theme is Baking St. Patrick Day treats, which will be hosted by Yudith from http://www.blissfullydelicious.com. Make sure to check back for next months goodies!

And now what you've all been waiting for the roundup! =)

Jen From www.beantownbaker.com submitted these amazing looking Cherry M&M Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

http://www.beantownbaker.com/2012/02/cherry-m-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies.html

Melissa and her daughter Bella from iwasborntocook.blogspot.com baked up some really cute Valentine's day crayons for Bella's classmates. I can't wait to make this next year with Jonathan! Thanks for sharing Melissa.

http://iwasborntocook.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-valentines-day-whats-baking.html

Ammie form arkitchenadventures.blogspot.com and I were on the same page this month, while I baked cupcakes,Ammie produced this beautiful red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting!

http://arkitchenadventures.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-baking-red-velvet-cake-with-cream.html

Jaida from sweetsbeginning.blogspot.com shared with us her heart shaped chocolate raspberry cheesecakes. What a creative was to link it to this month's theme.

http://sweetsbeginning.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-baking-chocolate-raspberry.html

Carrie from carriessweetlife.com while sick on and off the month of February was still able to baked some really cute Heart shaped Black and White cookies!

http://www.carriessweetlife.com/black-white-heart-cookies/

Yudith from http://www.blissfullydelicious.com shared her version of frosted sugar cookie bars, they look so cute I might have to make them for an upcoming baby shower next month. Thanks Judith

http://www.blissfullydelicious.com/2012/02/frosted-sugar-cookie-bars/

Amanda from ouritaliankitchen.blogspot.com shared her take on a yummy brownie and strawberry trifle

http://ouritaliankitchen.blogspot.com/2012/02/brownie-strawberry-trifle.html

Lindsey peaceloveandfrenchfries.com made cute soft sugar cookies with pink frosting! Perfect timing as I was looking for a new sugar cookie recipe!

http://peaceloveandfrenchfries.com/2012/02/23/soft-frosted-sugar-cookies/

Catherine from wamozart12cooks.blogspot.com baked up some really yummy looking pink grapefruit cupcakes, what a great use of Valentine's Colors.

http://wamozart12cooks.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-baking-february-valentines-day.html

Nicole from seven8ninebakes.blogspot.com got me excited for her cranberry vanilla chip biscotti! I can't wait to bake up a batch and send them to my father as this is one of his favorite treats paired with his daily espresso.

http://seven8ninebakes.blogspot.com/2012/02/cranberry-vanilla-chip-biscotti.html

Cara from www.theboysmademedoit.com shared frosted sugar cookies which was on her 30 by 30 list. Great job Cara another thing off your list!

http://www.theboysmademedoit.com/2012/02/will-you-be-my-valentine-30-by-30-sugar.html

Heather from http://hezzi-dsbooksandcooks.blogspot.com shared with us her Brown Sugar Blondies made with one of my favorite candies M&M.

http://hezzi-dsbooksandcooks.blogspot.com/2012/02/brown-sugar-blondies-for-valentines-day.html

While Angela from http://tinytyrantskitchen.blogspot.com had trouble with her Valentine's Day treat, she was still able to submit a recipe for Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes.

http://tinytyrantskitchen.blogspot.com/2012/02/spicy-chocolate-cupcakes.html

Jill from http://jbeancuisine.com submitted a roasted beet Risotto...while it wasn't baked, it surely fit the Valentine color theme!

http://jbeancuisine.com/2012/02/20/roasted-beet-risotto-with-goat-cheese/

And last just surely not least! Lindsey from ourshareoftheharvest.com Shared her recipe for chocolate whoopie pies with a strawberry filling! OMG! This is without a doubt the recipe I will use once I'm ready to tackle this in the kitchen.

http://ourshareoftheharvest.com/2012/02/13/whats-baking-chocolate-whoopie-pies-with-strawberry-filling/

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting

I am so excited...why you might ask, well it's because I'm the host of this month's "what's baking challenge! And seeing that it's Valentine's time again, I wanted to try a new cupcake recipe so I figured why not make a red velvet cupcake to stay with the holiday color theme.

Since Valentine's day lands on a night that I have to work later, I decided that we would celebrate the weekend before. This year I asked my three year old what he wanted to dessert and his response was "I want cupcakes!" Seeing that it was Jonathan's Valentine's Day Dinner as well, how could I say no.

I couldn't have been happier with the way the cupcakes turned out and I can not wait to make them again. Please make sure to come back and check out my what's baking round up and I've already gotten some amazing submission.

Like always happy baking!

Source for Cupcake Paula Deen
Source for Vanilla Bean Frosting http://www.browneyedbaker.com

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

WHAT YOU'LL NEED FOR THE FROSTING:

2½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar (10 ounces)
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons heavy cream

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.

In another bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in stand mixer.

Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled.

Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through.

Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness.

Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

While the cupcakes cool start making your vanilla bean frosting.

In your stand mixer whisk butter at medium-high speed until smooth.

With the edge of a knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into butter and beat mixture at medium-high speed to combine, about 15 seconds.

Once incorporated, add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moiste.

Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully incorporated, continue scraping the bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed.

Once everything has come together, increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

Once cupcakes are completely cooled, frost cupcakes and Garnish with raspberry, strawberries or even red candies.

Like always, Happy Baking!

Skinny Mini Oreo Cheesecakes!

It's that time of the month again, and that means that it's time to get our What's Baking entries in! This month Jessica from http://www.thejeyofcooking.com decided that this month's challenge would be "Something Savory" and to be honest, I really had a hard time with this one. Not because it couldn't come up with something, but more so because when I went to buy the ingredients either I couldn't find what I was looking for, or the product seemed to be below par.

The fact that I've been consumed with work and the holidays didn't help matters either. My mind was going a million miles an hour that I couldn't tell you how many things I baked/cooked that I could have used for this What's Baking Challenge. The sad thing is when I did realize it, we were almost done with our meals or I had already cut into the baked goods without taking a picture.

Lucky for me, my husband and I were hosting Thanksgiving, and in his opinion, not having cheesecake at a holiday party is like having Thanksgiving without turkey!
This year I took my skinny mini cheesecakes and changed them up a little, just to do something a little different while still trying to keep things lighter. The great thing about this recipe is that you get that wonderful cheesecake flavor and each cheesecake and each is just under 90 calories. How can you go wrong with that! Do you know how many calories are in a piece of cheesecake at the cheesecake factory?

All I am going to say is even if you had all 12 mini cheesecakes you would still have consumed less calories then you would in one slice from the cheesecake factory! I have always been big on finding ways of eating everything without the guilt. It's so true, you really don't have to give up all foods to maintain weight, you just have to use the right ingredients, and of course have everything in moderation.

Recipe adapted from The most decadent diet cookbook

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

Butter flavored cooking spray
12 reduced fat chocolate wafers cookies
8-10 Oreos finely crumbled in the food processor to mix into your batter
12oz of fat free cream cheese at room temp
1/3 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons fat free vanilla yogurt
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon unbleached all purpose flour
2 large egg whites


WHAT TO DO:

Preheat oven to 300

line 10 cups of a standard muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Lightly mist them with cooking spray

Place one wafer in the bottom center of each cup, flat side down.

In food processor added or Oreos and grind until fine.

Now in your mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar on medium until well combined. Add yogurt, vanilla, and flour and mix on low until just combined.

Fold in Oreo and set aside.

In another bowl whisk together egg whites until soft peeks form.

Use spatula and gently fold the eggs into the cream cheese until mixture is just combined. (You don't want to over mix)

Divide the mixture among the muffin tins.

they will puff up and the tops will crack once the are baked.

Transfer cheesecakes to cooling rack and cool at room temp. Refrigerate for at least 5 hours.


I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does.

1 Cheesecake has 90 calories, 6g protein, 17g carbohydrates, 1g fat.

Creme Brulee

The past few months I feel like all I've been doing is working, working, working. Which means that dinner in our home has been very basic. Not that basic meals are a bad thing, it's just that I found myself making the same things each week.

This weekend I was thinking about it, and I really feel like my husband and son haven't had anything special in a long time. So I decided to hold off on my original recipe for the What's Baking Challenge, and I was determined to make them something new. The plan was to make something healthy and that was a little more time consuming, and was a recipe that I knew I could not make on a weekend after working a 10hr day.

Therefore, Saturday night I made a beautiful piece of grilled salmon, with a side broccoli risotto, and for dessert you guessed it I made CREME BRULEE for the first time.

And if you haven't guessed it....it was delicious!!! The Brulees had a perfect smooth creamy texture and a nice crisp sugar topping. Both my son and Husband were very pleased and since my husband has asked when I was going to make it again. Therefore I plan on making it for Thanksgiving this year.

I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did and like always...Happy Baking!

Recipe source: Allrecipes.com

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

6 egg yolks
6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons brown sugar

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F

Beat egg yolks, 4 tablespoons sugar and vanilla in a mixer until thick and creamy.

In a saucepan heat cream over low heat until it almost comes to boil.

Remove the cream from heat immediately.

Take a cup of the cram and stir into the egg yolk mixture; to make sure that it tempered before adding it to the reminder of the cream, stir until combined.

Pour cream mixture into the top of a double boiler.

Stir over simmering water until mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon; this will take about 3 minutes.

Remove mixture from heat immediately and pour into a shallow heat-proof dish.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

Before serving Preheat oven to broil.

In a small bowl combine remaining 2 tablespoons white sugar and brown sugar.

Sift this mixture evenly over custard. Place dish under broiler until sugar melts, about 2 minutes, make sure to keep a watchful eye so doesn't burn.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. Refrigerate until custard is set again.

Tapioca Pudding

This month's what's baking challenge had me super excited. I planned on baking one of my family's favorite desserts, however I had to pick our second favorite due to the it being so humid lately. The humidity doesn't help for the Portuguese cookies I had in mind, so my second thought was to make a nice tapioca pudding, this month and then bake the cookies next month.

A little secret about this recipe is it's so easy and so basic, that anyone could make this. Over the years my mother has adapted this recipe so that the pudding is extra creamy. One of the things she has done is use half whole milk, and half skim milk. By doing this she was able to cut back on the fat and calories. Something else she did was add more milk to achieve a creamier texture which has been a great hit in our house. I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as my brother and I have when we were growing up. Like always Happy Baking!

Recipe Source my mom

***TIP*** Some small pearl tapioca requires a few hours to an overnight soaking in water. Make sure that when you buy your tapioca pearls that you read the package to see if it's an instant tapioca, or what the soaking requirements are.


WHAT YOU'LL
1 cup of small pearl tapioca (Make sure that they have soaked)
4 cups whole milk
3 cups skim milk (you could use all whole milk if you like, we use skim to cut back on the fat and calories)
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs beaten
3/4 cup of sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1 tablespoon of cinnamon

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

After soaking the tapioca, combine tapioca, milk, and salt in 1 1/2 quart pan on medium high heat.

Stir until boiling and then let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Uncovered and allow it to cook at the lowest possible heat, adding sugar gradually.

Beat eggs in a separate bowl.

Mix in some of the hot tapioca into the eggs very slowly to equalize the temperature of the two mixtures by doing this you will avoid curdling.

Mix eggs mixture in pan with the rest of tapioca.

Slowly bring mixture barely to a boil, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat and stir several minutes at a low simmer, stirring constantly until you get a nice thick pudding consistency.

Once thick add vanilla and cinnamon and continue to stir until well combined.

Pour into serving dish and serve either warm or chilled.

Zucchini Bread

Since we had so many zucchini this year, I had t o find new ways to use them, before they went to waste. Of course having a child that is the "I wouldn't eat that because it's green" stage, I had to find new ways to get certain veggies into his diet. Adding shredded zucchini into the bread makes it easy for me to achieve that goal.

The cool thing about this bread is that the spices in it, make it taste more like a coffee cake bread then an actual zucchini bread. The bread comes out with a nice smooth, moist texture. Something else that I love about this bread is the fact that it freezes well, so you can eat one now and then freeze the second bread for another day. I hope you, and your family all enjoy this as much as we have.

Recipe inspired by Paula's Home Cooking

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

3 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon of allspice
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice


WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg,all spice baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine apple sauce, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice.

Mix wet ingredients into dry.

Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray.

Bake for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean.