Mini Pumpkin Loafs

As mentioned in my last post, I picked up the lovely little mini loaf pan from Sur La Table. I was so excited to use it (I've wanted this little sucker for some time now). 

I used a recipe for pumpkin bread that was recommended to me and all I have to say is THANK YOU!!! This is by far the best pumpkin bread recipe I've had. Now let me tell you, there is nothing fancy about this recipe, nothing in it that most others don't have, but for some reason this recipe was extra moist and extremely flavorful - the pan helped too I'm sure.  The recipe calls for chopped walnuts, but sweet tooF doesn't like walnuts so I made it w/out. 

Here is the recipe:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Bake at 350.  This recipe makes 1 loaf baked at 50-60 mins (you could easily double for more) and if you're using the mini loaf pan like I did, it was exactly enough for 8 mini loafs baked at 25-30 mins. 
**For detailed recipe email me TreatsBySweetB@gmail.com **

Here it is ready to for some oven lovin'

 All done! So golden brown :)

These were so deeeeelish!!! I highly recommend this recipe. It will definitely warm anyone's tummy.  The pan is a plus, makes them bite size! Ok, more like 4 bites size :)

Mobile Recipe Box? There's an app for that!

Ok you're probably sick of that slogan but it's true! haha

If you're anything like me, you rely on your cell phone for MORE than making calls (in fact I hardly use it AS a phone as I barely make calls.  No it's not that I don't have friends either - haha)

Ive been having a tough time finding a place to "store" my recipes and in this day and age, a recipe box just isn't convenient for me (paper? what is paper? hehee) So of course I pull out my trust iPhone and found an app! Most apps they have are actual recipe apps where you can look up several different recipes and save them, BUT this is different. This is JUST a place to store recipes. I LOVE IT! You can customize everything from recipe category, add pictures, look up measurements, etc. It's called My Recipes. There's a "lite" version that is free, however, it doesn't have as many options as the full version which is only .99 cents (c'mon what's a buck in the name of making baking easier right? get on it).
Here are some screen shots (not mine but you get the picture):

Now when I need a recipe, I pull out my phone. 
Need my Red Velvet recipe? BAM, pull out my phone.
Oh what's that?  You want to know what's in my pumpkin bread? BAM, pull out my phone.

In the words of Ben Stiller "DO IT", "DO IT".

**In no way am I an Apple representative and I'm not getting paid to endorse this app ( I wish I was). DO IT.

Oatmeal Cookie Love

I had an itch to bake tonight but wasn't sure what I wanted to make.  I found a recipe for Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies, but it ended in a #FAIL when I headed to the grocery store and found they were out of pumpkin. What? It's fall and there is no pumpkin? LAME! So I ended up with Oatmeal Raisin (hold the pumpkin) Cookie and here they are... yummy!!

Ready to Go! 

Perfect! 

You HAVE to enjoy with milk of course!

Here is the recipe for these yummy treats:
2 sticks butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cups oats (like old fashioned Quaker Oats)
1 cup raisins


and don't forget the milk!

It's Peanut Butter...Jelly...Time!

The other day sweet tooF had a request.."how about a peanut butter filled cupcake?".  Now, I'm not a fan of peanut butter unless it's in a PB&J sammich.  I will have the occasional Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but considering I don't have the sweet tooF in the family, this didn't sound appealing to me.  Well I tried it (why the heck not right?) and they actually came out pretty yummy!

I made Triple Chocolate Fudge cupcakes filled them with peanut butter buttercream and topped it with Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting.

Mmmm, creamy center!!!

Here is the recipe for the Peanut Butter Buttercream Filling:

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temp
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

Pretty in Pink - Chocolate Fudge w/ Raspberry Buttercream

Last night Mr. Sweet Toof asked about raspberry buttercream frosting.  I have yet to work with fresh fruit in my icing so I thought, what the heck, let's give it a shot.

I made chocolate cupcakes with a raspberry buttercream and it can't out pretty good.  ( He said these were better than my Snickerdoodle cupcakes! )

They came out ok. Reason I said "ok" is the cake was yummy, very chocolate-y, but I wasn't completely satisfied with the raspberry buttercream HOWEVER, I found my mistake. I used frozen raspberries instead of "fresh".  The consistency wasn't as "thick" and it should've been, but that explains it since using frozen berries contains more water.  So here are my recipes for both the cupcakes and buttercream.  Remember use FRESH (not frozen) and you should be fine.  The taste was still fab :)

Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes (makes 12)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter room temp
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

Raspberry Buttercream Frosting (makes about 2 cups)

1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup FRESH (not frozen) raspberries
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
16 oz powdered sugar

Fresh out of the oven.....mmm can you smell it?

Tadah!!! So Pink!

Red Velvet Love

Tonight I made a cake simply "for the sake of eating" as  sweet tooF put it.  He said "this one doesn't have all that crazy fondant on it, it's just to eat" haha.

Well he is right.  As he reminded me yesterday, he ate the last cupcake (aka we ran out of baked goods) and it was his way of saying "more please".

So tonight I made a Red Velvet cake, Buttercream filling, and Whipped Cream icing.  This was the first time I made homemade whipped cream.  It was SO easy! (and yummmmm-o)  I know the "classic" red velvet is covered with cream cheese frosting but I really wasn't in the mood for anything heavy.  The whipped cream was so light and fluffy and best part, it was so easy to make!

Here's the recipe:

2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 Cup Powder Sugar
2 Tbsp Vanilla

That's it! Oh and here's a secret - for good consistency, chill your mixing bowl and your beater in the freezer or 10 minutes before making it.  Something about the cold helps.

Anyway, enough of the blah blah blah... here it the cake!

Mixing up the whipped cream

All done! Nothing fancy. Just a "cake for eating" LOL

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes? Done! Banana Bread? Done!

So I couldn't decide which to make, so what did I do? I made both (are you surprised haha).

First I made the banana bread.  This was fun to make.  We usually use a bread maker to make our breads so this was the first time I was baking one from scratch using the oven.

Here is the recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Here's the batter at work in the mixer

Ready to go in the oven!

and the final product

It's delicious!!! It came out just a tad darker than I'd like so next time I'll probably tweak the temp/cooking time but regardless, it's yum!! I'm sticking to this recipe.  I would've added walnuts but hubby hates walnuts...boooo..

Ok on so the Snickerdoodle Cupcakes! These are a take off the famous Snickerdoodle cookies which are sugar buttery cookies rolled in cinnamon. YUM!

Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

They filled the cups nicely

All done!!!

I iced them with a new buttercream recipe I found and sprinkled them with the Sugar N' Cinnamon I found today.  The cake was so deelish! Love the cinnamon kick.  Mr. Sweet TooF ate 3, YES THREE, in a row. I guess they're good haha.

I'm freaking EXHAUSTED.  I'm done baking for the week....or am I? haha. 

Sweet TooF Baked!

This morning our house was filled with a yummy breakfast aroma.
Hubs decided to bake us breakfast! (He's an awesome cook).

This morning was his Bacon & Egg Quiche.
Recipe:

8 strips bacon, cooked & crumbled
1 1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. Bisquick
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 c. Cheddar cheese

It was super yummy, light and fluffy!

Yummy breakfast hun!!

Damn You Cookie Sheet!

I was on a baking roll and decided to make homemade chocolate chip cookies today.
Here's the recipe I made:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

For the most part they came out yummy, EXCEPT, I bought a new cookie sheet and the cookies I made on that sheet (I was using 2 different sheets) burned on the bottom! hmmmph! Initially I thought I had put them in too long, but then realized that they were still black on the bottom. WTH? The others were fine, yet the batches on the new sheet were caca.  I think the new sheet I bought is a piece of crap. Too thin maybe?
I wonder if next time I layer it with foil if it will help.

I didn't get a chance to take any pics because I was so disappointed. The ones that were not burnt came out pretty yummy and the hubs has no problem eating about 6 cookies in 1 minute....so is that a compliment? ha.

I'm going to have to bake these again and see if covering the pan makes a difference.
Anyone have good advice for this (aside from "just throw the sheet away"), I'll take it :)