Wow, these are good.

Banana Cupcakes

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt


Pre-heat oven to 350. Cream shortening and sugars together. Add eggs, extracts and banana and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, powder, soda and salt. Alternate dry ingredients and buttermilk and add to sugar mixture. Bake in lined cupcake pan for 15 - 20 min. Yield: 18 cupcakes.


Dark Chocolate Butter Cream

½ cup butter (room temperature)
3 tablespoon butter flavor shortening
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons Hershey's Special Dark coco powder
4 cups powdered sugar
1 - 2 tablespoons of milk (as needed for texture)


Whip butter and shortening until fluffy. Add exact and coco, mix well. Add powdered sugar a little at a time, mixing in between each addition. Add milk as needed to achieve a fluffy whipped texture.

Ice cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

Wow! These are good! I made these cupcakes this weekend for company, and they were so delicious I ended up making another batch due to high demand. To whip them up yourself, follow this (slightly modified) recipe from recipe from the Joy of Baking.

For the Dark Chocolate Cupcake:

1/2 cup Hershey's' Special Dark cocoa powder
1 cup boiling hot water
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs

Pre heat oven to 375. Combine boiling water and coco powder in a blow and stir until smooth. Set aside and let cool. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl and set aside. In an electric mixer, whit butter until fluffy. Add sugar and combine well. Add eggs and combine well. Add four mixture and cooked chocolate, alternating. Mix until just combined. Filled lined baking cups in a muffin pan. Bake for 16 min or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Makes 12-16 cupcakes.

For the Almond Buttercream:

1 stick of unsalted butter-room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar
¼ t almond extract
1-3 T milk

In an electric mixer, whip butter until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and extract and mix until smooth. Add milk, as needed until light and fluffy.

Cool cupcakes, ice and enjoy!

Any day is an excellent day to have a few friends over for tea, so here is a new recipe to try and hopefully a little motivation to invite some of your girlfriends over to hang out and chat.

That is just what I did yesterday. I am lucky enough to have some pretty wonderful friends here in Asheville, and some of the ladies I know happened to have time to hang out on a Thursday afternoon, so I invited them over to my place. (Doesn't my new table runner look awesome, btw, not bad for previously being a pile of scraps!) I served Lemon Blueberry Scones, raspberry thyme tea and espresso. I also tried out a new-to-me kitchen item that I love, cultured buttermilk powder.

 There are so many recipes that I wanted to try that call for buttermilk, but I never want to buy it by the half gallon because I will use one cup of it and waste the rest-until now. I spotted this little retro looking can in my grocers baking aisle. It's powdered buttermilk! Just add some of the powder to dry ingredients in any recipe that calls for butter milk, and add water, as directed, to the wet ingredients---presto! No more wasted buttermilk. I thought it was neat and I have no idea why I didn't learn about it sooner…anyway. Here is the recipe for the scones:  

Lemon Blueberry Scones

2 cups flour + more for berries and counter top
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, cold and chopped into small chunks
3/4 cup buttermilk or 3T cultured butter milk poweder+3/4 cup of water
1 egg, beaten
1 cup blueberries frozen blueberries, rinsed and thawed
zest of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 375. Combine dry ingredients + lemon zest in a mixing bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Make a well and add water and eggs. Mix lightly until just combined. In a separate bowl, sprinkle blueberries with four and toss to coat. This will help prevent your dough from turning blue. Add berries to dough and fold together. Turn out on floured surface. This dough is super sticky -- dont be alarmed. Carefully pat it into a circle about ¾ inches thick. Cut like a pizza into wedge shapes and carefully transfer to grease cookie sheet. Bake for 25 min. Cool and glaze.

Lemon Glaze

2 cups confectioners sugar

Juice of one lemon

3 table spoons of butter

Combine in an electric mixer until smooth. Add water if needed to thin. Drizzle over cooled scones. Enjoy!

Pre request, here is a recipe from the 1989 Southern Living Annual Recipes for a pretty easy dessert that is sure to impress and will be perfect after a heavy rich meal like Christmas Dinner.

Creamy Bombe with Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients

1 (16- ounce) package of frozen unsweetened peaches, thawed and drained

1 (8-ounce)carton sour cream

½ c grenadine

½ gallon vanilla ice cream, softened

Vegetable cooking spray

Raspberry Sauce (below)

Fresh raspberries

Fresh Mint sprigs

Instructions

In a food processor, process peaches until smooth. Add sour cream and grenadine; process until well blended.

Combine peach mixture and ice cream in a mixing bowl; beat a low speed with an electric mixer until well blended. Pour mixture into an 111 cup mold (or bunt pan, or jello mold, or any large bowl with an interesting shape) that has been coated with cooking spray. Cover and freeze for 8 hours or until mixture is firm.

Tow hours before serving, using the tip of a knife, loosen the edges from the mold. Invert mold onto chilled serving plate. Wrap a warm towel around the mold for 30 seconds.  Shake gently and slowly lift off mold. Return Bombe to freezer.

Garnish with raspberry sauce, raspberries and mint. 12 servings

Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) package of frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed and drained

¾ light corn syrup

¼ Grand Marnier

Process raspberries in food processor until smooth. Strain out seeds if desired. Stir in syrup and Grand Marnier.

Round two of baking is underway!

First up are my

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies.

This variation was created on behalf of my husband who loves the flavor combination. For starters, I followed this classic from the Joy of Baking:

Ingredients

3/4 cup (170 grams) unsaltedbutter, room temperature

1/2 cup (105 grams) light brown sugar

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup (185 grams) peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes). Beat in the peanut butter. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the peanut butter mixture and beat until incorporated. Fold in the chopped peanuts, if using. (If the batter is too soft to form into balls, place in the refrigerator for about an hour or until firm.)

Roll the batter into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheet, placing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Then, using the tines of the fork that has been dipped in white granulated sugar, make a crisscross pattern. ***

Bake the cookies for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Can be stored at room temperature, in an airtight container, for about a week. Freeze for longer storage.

***rather than making the fork tine cross design, I dipped the bottom of a drinking glass into a bowl of granulated sugar and used it to flatten the cookies into discs.

For the finishing touch, I melted dark chocolate chips in a double boiler until smooth and dipped the cooled cookies half way in the chocolate.

Next up:

Martha Stewart' Bullseye and Spiral Cookies 

I found this recipe in the NY Daily News. It's a new recipe from Martha dahling and it was a little complicated, but the cookies are good and pretty neat looking.

Ingredients

Makes 5-8 dozen, depending on size

1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1¾ cups sugar
2 large whole eggs, plus 1 large egg white, for brushing
1 teaspoon salt
²/³ cup milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface 
Unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (optional) 
Gel-paste food coloring, in various colors 
Colored sanding sugar, chopped nuts, or chocolate sprinkles, for topping (optional)

Instructions

1. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add whole eggs and salt, and mix well. Beat in milk and vanilla. Add flour a little at a time, mixing just until incorporated.

2. Divide dough into equal portions (1 for each color). For chocolate dough, add cocoa powder (¼ cup flavors half a batch); mix well with an electric mixer on medium until cocoa is incorporated. For tinted dough, start with ¼  teaspoon food coloring; mix well. For darker colors, gradually add more in tiny amounts. Wrap each portion of dough separately in plastic, and press flat to form into rectangles. Chill 1 hour or up to 1 day.

3. Dust a piece of parchment with flour. Roll out each piece of dough to ¼- to ½-inch thickness, to make the spirals; use thicker layers for bull's-eyes. Use a bench scraper to trim dough edges to make them even.

4.  TO MAKE BULL'S-EYES: With your hands, form chocolate dough into a ½- to 1½-inch-thick log, for center; chill 20 minutes. Place log on edge of rolled-out dough brushed with egg white. Roll log inside sheet of dough; cut dough where it joins. Pinch and press gently to seal. Chill 20 minutes, then repeat rolling and chilling to add other layers. To decorate outsides of cookies, spread desired topping on a baking sheet, brush dough with beaten egg white, and roll log in topping.

5. TO MAKE SPIRALS: Measure and trim 2 or more colors of dough to the same size. Brush tops of layers evenly with egg white to help layers stick together, then stack layers. Starting at short end, roll up dough. Gently pinch and press edge of roll to seal. Decorate with toppings, if desired (see step 4, above).

6. Roll each log in parchment; twist ends of paper closed. To help logs keep their rounded shape, set each in a cardboard paper-towel tube sliced open lengthwise. Chill logs, seam side down, 90 minutes, or up to 1 day.

7. Preheat oven to 350. Cut 15 inches of dental floss (or a double thickness of thread). Let logs soften at room temperature 10 minutes. Remove parchment. Wrap floss around log and pull through to make ¼-inch-thick slices.

8. Place slices on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm but not browned, 12 to 15 minutes.  

Let cool on sheet on a wire rack several minutes, then transfer cookies to rack to cool completely.

And finally:

Buckeye Candy

There are about a million variations of buckeye candy recipes on the web. This is my mom's version that I have made since I was a kid. As an Ohio native, these little guys are a Christmas staple for just about everyone I know from home. By dipping the peanut butter bon-bon 3/4 of the way in the melted chocolate, you end up with the finished product that looks like the nut produced by the official state tree and is also a nice shout out to mascot of The Ohio State University.

 Ingredients

1 ½ sticks butter, softened

1 lb creamy peanut butter

2 lbs of confectioners' sugar

12 oz bag of chocolate chips

½ stick of paraffin wax

Mix butter, peanut butter and confectioner' s sugar thoroughly. Roll into 1 inch balls and chill on a cookie sheet for several hours.  Melt chocolate chips and paraffin in a double boiler. With a toothpick or bamboo skewer, dip peanut butter balls in melted chocolate and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate leaving on waxed paper until hardened.

Happy Baking!

Hello Lovelies! It's that time of year again...when my Christmas cookie baking is in full swing. I bake a lot for the holidays because a) a really enjoy it and b) cookies make wonderful and inexpensive gifts. I have been asked several times this year for some cookie recipe sugestions, so I am making a three part series all about it. I started this years baking off with three recipies I'd like to share:

Martha's Idea Sugar Cookies 

Let's face it, no one does baking quite like Martha, dahling. And although some of her recipes can get a little fussy, her ideal sugar cookie recipe is a classic. I've used this recipe for years and it always gets rave reviews.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons brandy, or milk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; mix until light and fluffy. With mixer running, add egg, brandy, and vanilla; mix until well combined. With the mixer on low, slowly add reserved flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
2. Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 2 discs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, and transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch in between. Leftover dough can be rolled and cut once more. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes; do not allow to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
5. Decorate with Royal Icing, optional.

Yield: about 2 dozen

I always let my dough rest in the refidgerator over night to be sure it is easy to work with. This recipe was orginally published in The "Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook" cira 2003. You can find a copy here at Amazon.

And, naturally, you've got to decorate these lovelies with Martha's Royal Icing recipe.

Ingredients

1 box confectioners' sugar (1 pound)

5 tablespoons meringue powder, or 2 large egg whites

Food coloring

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar and meringue powder. Mixing on low speed, add a scant 1/2 cup water. For a thinner consistency, usually used for flooding, add more water. A thicker consistency is generally used for outlining and adding details. Mix until icing holds a ribbonlike trail on the surface of the mixture for 5 seconds when you raise the paddle.
2. Tint with food coloring as desired.

Yeild: 2 1/3 cups

I use egg whites rather than meringue powder because that is normally what I have on hand. After your cookies are iced, let them sit out a bit before storing and the royal icing will become firm and shiny.

Betty Crocker Thumbprint Cookies

Ahhh, Betty Crocker, oh how I love thee. I can always turn to you for tried and true recipies likes these tumbprint cookies. So delicious and festive, these buttery short bread cookies are topped with a touch of jelly for flavor and color. I like raspberry jelly, but you can choose your favorite.

Here is the recipe as it appears from Betty:

Ingredients

¼ cup packed brown sugar

¼ shortening

¼ cup butter or margarine, softened

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 egg separated

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup finely chopped nuts

jelly

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350ºF.
2. Mix brown sugar, shortening, butter, vanilla and egg yolk in medium bowl. Stir in flour and salt until dough holds together.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Beat egg white slightly. Dip each ball into egg white. Roll in nuts. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb deeply in center of each.
4. Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Fill thumbprints with jelly.

Yield: about 3 dozen

I made a modification to this recipe and skipped the nuts and egg wash. Rather, I rolled the chilled dough and use a small daisy shaped cookie cutter to cut-out the cookies. Then I pressed the center with a mellon baller, to give a nice round uniform dish, and baked according to instructions.

Aunt Baby's Checkerboard Cookies

And finally, from Oprah, Aunt Baby's Checkerboard Cookies. A pretty combination of chocolaty and buttery flavors (really how could you go wrong with that), these cookes are pretty simple to make and look lovely on a cookie plate. Because of their square shape, they also pack and ship well in the mail.

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup (1 envelope) nonfat dry milk

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or shortening , softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs , well beaten

2 Tbsp. cocoa

Directions

Note: For more colorful cookies, substitute red or green food coloring for cocoa.

Sift together flour, dry milk, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and stir in vanilla. Gradually add sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add well-beaten eggs, blending until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Divide dough in half. Stir cocoa into one half, blending well. Shape each half into a rectangle, about 2" x 2" x 6". Tightly wrap in waxed paper. Chill at least 30 minutes.

Unwrap dough; cut each rectangle into quarters, lengthwise. Alternately place dark and white quarters side by side to form checker design. Rewrap in waxed paper and chill slightly.

Slice dough into 1/8-inch pieces and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes.

Yield: about 5 dozen

 Happy Baking!

as seen on the gypsys conrner!

I am always up for an adventure in the kitchen and a new ingredient was given to me by my cousin Lindsey and her husband Gino as a hostess gift for a recent visit. Lindsey brought me this fabulous gourd from her local grocery store. I find it delightful that she saw this crazy thing and knew I would love it----I guess I am just a fancy gourd kind of girl.

The gourd first served as a centerpiece for our Thanksgiving dinner table, and did a lovely job. After I put the fall things away and hauled the Christmas stuff down from the attic, Mr. Gourd suddenly looked out of place in the dining room. My husband and I contemplated what to do with him next; should we dry him and keep him for next year? Could we make some sort of percussion instrument out of him? And then we began to wonder….could we eat that guy? Make him into a pie? A soup? Can we roast him?

After a little online research we found that Mr. Gourd was a Turk's Turban Gourd and was not only edible but billed as delicious-and that was all I needed to hear. I washed him up and took a knife to him.

After removing the top of the gourd, I was left with the lovely bowl shaped bottom. Just as I would prepare any other squash for roasting, I scraped the seeds and the stringy innards out with a melon baller,  lightly coated the inside of the gourd with olive oil and turned it upside down onto a cookie sheet-then roasted it in a 400 degree oven for 30 min. I did the same with a large butternut squash.

In the mean time, on the stove top, I tossed three coarsely chopped carrots, five chopped ribs of celery, and one chopped medium onion into a large soup pot with some olive oil and cooked them up until soft. I added to that 2 cups of chicken broth and simmered.

Once the gourd was roasted, I used and ice cream scoop to remove the flesh from the inside of the 'bowl', removed the flesh from the butternut squash as well and added both to the pot.

Have I ever mentioned that I really like my immersion blender? I really do. It is a fun kitchen tool to use, and if you have never had one, you really don't know what you are missing. I didn't have an immersion blender for years and now I am not certain how I ever lived without one. Anyway, next I used the immersion blender to make a smooth puree out of the vegetables in the stock. Added milk to thin and the following spices to taste: salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves. And tada! Soup.

Using the gourd shell as a soup tureen for serving made a lovely presentation and this hardy delicious soup was filling dinner when served with whole wheat rolls. I enjoyed this so much that I think I will save the seeds from Mr. Gourd, plant them in the spring and see if I can grow a whole crop to decorate with and eat next fall. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving!

The Thanksgiving prep has already started at my house and I can't wait to sit down with family and friends to enjoy some turkey. In the mean time, I am getting a head start on the big meal by making the dinner rolls in advance. The classic Southern Living Annual cook books are always wonderful. Published since 1979, these books are chalked full of classic tested recipes that never disappoint-another great feature, they are organized by month, so it is never hear to find the perfect recipe for the season.

For my Thanksgiving feast, I will be serving the Light Wheat Rolls featured in the November section of the 1987 edition (page 254). The rolls are also pictured on the back cover of the recipe book (as seen above). I selected this recipe because it is pretty straightforward, the rolls look pretty and you can partially bake, then freeze them, and complete the baking on the morning of your dinner, saving a lot of kitchen time on the big day. Enjoy!

Light Wheat Rolls

2 packages dry yeast

1 ¾ cups warm water (105 to 115)

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½  cup butter (divided)

1 egg, slightly beaten

2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large mixing bowl; add sugar and salt to the yeast mixture.  Melt ¼ cup of butter; cool to lukewarm. Add butter, egg and whole wheat flour to yeast mixture, stirring well; gradually stir in enough all-purpose flour to make a soft dough.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 min). Place in a well greased bowl, turning to grease top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts until doubled in bulk.

Punch dough down, divide in half, and roll each portion into a 14 x 16 inch rectangle. Cut dough into 12 (7x1" strips). Roll each strip into a spiral; place in well greased muffin pans. Repeat process with remaining dough.

Brushed with melted butter; let rise un-covered in a warm place, free from drafts for 40 min or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 400 for 12 to 15 min; brush again with melted butter.

Note: Rolls can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. Bake at 400 for 8 min; let cool and freeze. Let rolls thaw, and bake at 400 for 5 to 7 min.

to order your own copy of the latest edition of the Southern Living Annual Cookbook, check out Oxmorehouse Books.

Filled layer cakes are delicious and you can come up with some wonderful flavor combinations. Filling a cake is not much more work than simply icing a layer cake, so once you are committed to layering, you might as well go the extra step and make your cake really special.



For my spooky dinner party, I prepared a red velvet, raspberry filled round cake with cream cheese icing. It was delicious! To make this cake yourself, first begin by baking two 8" round red velvet cakes. Let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and the transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cakes are cooling, make your cream cheese icing and set aside. Once the cakes are cool, trim the tops with a serrated bread knife, to make them even. Then place once cake, trimmed side down, on to your cake plate or stand.

Fill your pastry bag with icing and using any large tip to draw a circle around the edge of the bottom cake.

Now you are ready to add your filling. I used a good quality local raspberry jam from filling. Spoon a liberal amount of your filling of choice into the icing circle:



Place the second cake on top of the first, cut side down.



Next apply a "crumb coat," a thin layer of icing that keeps crumbs where they belong-on the cake-not the frosting! Once the cake is coated, place it in the refrigerator to chill for a few hours, until the crumb coat is firm.


Now you are ready for the final layer of icing. I use an icing spatula that I keep in a glass of hot water while I am icing. The hot water heats up the metal spatula, making it easy to spread the icing and create a nice smooth finish on the cake. To keep with the spook theme, I used black gel icing to create a spider web design on the top of the cake and perched a paper cut our spider on the edge.



Filling and layering a cake is easier than you may think. Give yourself plenty of time to allow for cake cooling and icing setting and you will be impressed with the results!

Red velvet is delicious cake and fun for many special occasions, especially Halloween. Check out these devilishly delicious cupcakes:



This trio of treats from Meghan's Cakes and Cookies, Brain Cupcakes straight from the mad scientists' lab of Salt Says, and Dracula's Bites from Parenting, are all excellent examples of how creative you can get.

So hit up this classic red velvet cake recipe from the Joy Of Baking and whip up some spooky holiday fun of your own this weekend!