My New Go-To Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Okay, okay, I know, I know. Thanksgiving was a WHILE ago. But I desperately need to share this pumpkin pie recipe anyway. It's the best one I've ever made...SO...GOOD...so yum. This made enough filling for a 9-inch pie, with a bit extra that I baked alongside it in a ramekin (to test taste just in case!). I served it with vanilla ice cream, but any whipped cream would work well, and it tastes delicious on its own!

I had to bake this a lot longer than what's suggested, but could have baked it a little less. Make sure you mix it COMPLETELY! I put this in Dorie Greenspan's Good-For-Almost-Anything Pie Dough (you can find the recipe here), which was a little flakier than expected but I just pressed it into the pan and it worked amazingly well. Definitely making this again next year!

Pumpkin Pie
Recipe from Linzers in London

1 1/2 cups pumpkin
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
2 cups whole milk
2-3 tablespoons brandy


Mix all ingredients except eggs, milk and brandy, then add lightly beaten eggs and milk.

Gently swirl in brandy, then pour into prepared 10 inch pie shell.
Bake at 425 (218 c) for 20 minutes, then turn down to 350 (176 c) for another 25 minutes or until custard is set.

Baked Cinnamon Donuts

I just went on vacation to Hawaii earlier this month. I miss vacation already. About a month before that, I went to Boston with Adam, and got to eat delicious Dunkin Donuts. When will it come to San Francisco! So dying for the delicious vanilla-frosted nommy-ness...the iced coffee was super good, too. So strange.

I decided to bake up some donuts on my new donut pans to enjoy with my Dunkin Donuts coffee mug (I love buying mugs that remind me of places I've been that I loved!) shortly after my trip. I got the recipe from my mom, who made these the last time I visited home.

Baked Cinnamon Donuts
Recipe by Ina Garten

Baking spray with flour, such as Baker's Joy
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 doughnut pans well.

Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the baking pans, filling each one a little more than three-quarters full. Bake for 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then tap the doughnuts out onto a sheet pan.


For the topping, melt the 8 tablespoons of butter in an 8-inch saute pan. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Dip each doughnut first in the butter and then in the cinnamon sugar, either on one side or both sides.

Our Favorite Buttermilk Pancakes

Hey! Remember me?

Here's my go-to pancake recipe. You don't need to make it with blueberries. I've used both fresh and frozen blueberries, and you could also go plain, go chocolate, whatever you like! I've made it with fruit and whipped cream on top, with syrup, powdered sugar...whatever! The picture you see above (nicely decorated with my foot and a greasy bacon tray) is from Adam's birthday last month. I'm still cooking and taking pictures of food, so hopefully I'll share some of the recipes I've been trying out soon!

This is definitely our favorite fluffy pancake recipe. If you're looking for a delicious standard to always keep in your back pocket, try this out!


Buttermilk Pancakes
Recipe from Ambitious Kitchen

2 cups Gold Medal Flour All-Purpose Flour (or White Whole Wheat)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups low-fat buttermilk, plus extra if needed
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 container (6 oz) Nonfat Vanilla Greek Yogurt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. In a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and yogurt until smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with butter or cooking spray and heat over medium. Drop batter by 1/4 cup onto skillet. Sprinkle tops with a few blueberries. Cook until bubbles appear on top, about 2 minutes. Flip cakes and cook until golden brown on underside, 2 minutes. Wipe skillet clean and repeat with more melted butter and remaining batter. Makes 14-16 pancakes.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We celebrating St. Patrick's Day yesterday in the beautiful, clear-blue-sky, sunshiny weather, on a boat. Such perfect weather! We had a little barbecue, had a lot of fun, and I got to make cupcakes for the occasion. These were FANTASTIC! I'm always in the mood to bake cupcakes for people and this was my first time having a filled cupcake. These cupcakes have a Guinness chocolate cake base, filled with Jameson chocolate ganache, and topped with Bailey's buttercream. SO GOOD. SO SMOOTH. SO YOU MUST MAKE THIS NOW. Pretty sure my friends thought this was the best cupcake I have ever made.

This recipe easily made 12 cupcakes. I was afraid that there wasn't enough frosting, but there definitely was. Man that frosting is good.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Recipe from Better With Sugar

Cupcake:
1/2 C Guinness Stout
1/2 C unsalted butter, chopped
1/4 C + 2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
1 C all purpose flour
1 C granulated sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3 C sour cream

Ganache Filling:
2/3 C semi sweet chocolate chips
1/3 C whipping cream (or heavy cream)
1 TBS butter, room temperature
1 tsp whiskey

Frosting:
1/2 C butter, room temperature
2-1/2 C icing sugar
3 TBS Irish Cream

Preaheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

Make the cupcakes: Heat the Guinness and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until it's simmering, or the butter is melted and it just begins to bubble a bit.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the cocoa and whisk until it's smooth. Set aside to cool a bit.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

In another separate, large bowl, beat together the egg and sour cream.

Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture, and beat just to combine.

Beat in the flour mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake tin. Bake for 21-22 min, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool on a rack.

Make the ganache: Heat the cream until simmering over low-med heat, then pour it over the chocolate chips. Let it sit for a minute, then stir it until smooth using a rubber spatula.

Add the butter and whiskey and stir until smooth again. Let the ganache cool until it has thickened up a bit but it still soft enough to be piped or spooned.

Cut out the centers of the cupcakes. I do this using the big open end of my 1M decorating tip. You could also use a sharp knife to cut a hole, going about 2/3 of the way down the cupcake.

You can either pipe the ganache into the holes in the cupcakes using a piping bag, or just spoon the ganache in.

Make the frosting: Using an electric mixer, whip the butter on med-high speed for a couple minutes. Add about 1/3 of the icing sugar and 1 TBS Irish Cream, beat on low. Repeat until all of the icing sugar and Irish Cream is mixed into the butter. Whip the frosting on med-high for another couple of minutes.

** Store in the fridge

Czech Pork Chops with Bread Dumplings and Cabbage

Wowowow can I make this again right now? Can I eat this every night for the rest of my life? PLEASE?

It takes a little longer than I'd usually like to spend on a meal but TOTALLY 100% WORTH IT. When I went to Prague a few years ago, my favorite meal was pork butt with bread dumplings and sauerkraut. This came pretty darn close and was absolutely 100% what I was looking for. Make this, please. Please please please. And invite me over to try. Ohh wow yum.

Czech Pork Chops with Bread Dumplings and Cabbage

Recipe from K&L Food Blog

For pork:

4 pork chops

salt, pepper

1 cup vegetable broth

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp vegetable oil

For dumplings:

2 cups plain flour

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

pinch salt

pinch sugar

10g fresh yeast

1 bread roll (I used 4 small dinner rolls)

For the cabbage:

About 2 pounds white/green cabbage

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp onion

2 tbsp flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp vinegar

1 cup vegetable broth

cumin, sugar

vinegar

salt, pepper

For the dumplings: Mix bit of flour (about a fourth of a cup) with yeast, sugar and some lukewarm milk, leave for few minutes until yeast start to rise. Cut roll into cubes and place in the bowl along with rest of the milk and egg, mix all ingredients. Now add flour, yeast with milk, salt and stir everything together. Knead the resulting dough just as you would when making bread. Let the dough rest in a warm place to rise for an hour. Now divide the dough into 2, 3 parts and form rolls, leave again to raise for 30 minutes. Boil one at a time in a large pot with boiling, salted water for around 7-8 minutes on each side, then take out and cut with very sharp knife or length of thread.

For pork: Clean and wash meat, then season with salt and pepper. Place on a pan and fry on oil on both sides, then pour the broth and cook for few minutes until soft and tender. At the end thicken the sauce with flour and some water, season again.

For the cabbage: Wash cabbage, shred it finely. Place in a saucepan, and cover with broth, simmer. In another saucepan, melt butter, fry chopped onions until golden. Add cabbage, salt, pepper, cumin, sugar and vinegar, sprinkle with flour and cook until soft. 

Tilapia with Strawberry Salsa

Week 2 of Happy and I cooking together (this time girls only!), we decided to make tilapia. WOW. SO EASY. WOW. SO GOOD. I will be making this again asap because it was soooo yummy. I love fish, and I love fruit, so fish + fruit = omnomnom. And it looked beautiful to boot! While I whipped up the fish and salsa, Happy handled the rice and salad--the rice was soo good, she stuck in a whole 2 cups of fresh mushrooms to make it magical.

The recipe calls for grilling the fish and the original calls for baking--I pan fried mine easily.

Tilapia with Strawberry Salsa

Recipe from Pasta Princess and More

2 tilapia fillets

1 tbsp butter

1 tsps lemon juice

5 large strawberries, de-topped and finely chopped

1 tbsp finely chopped white onion

2 tsps lime juice

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped or 1 tablespoon Thai Red Chili Sauce

Mix the strawberries, onion, jalapeno, ginger, lime juice and red wine vinegar together. Stir well and let sit in the fridge for at least 15 mins so the flavors can mingle.

Generously season each fillet, pour lemon juice over both and place 1/2 tbsp of butter on each. Grill until fish turns opaque and flakes easily.

Serve with a spoonful of salsa.

Caprese Pasta Salad

I'm not sure where my mom got this recipe so if you know (or mom, if you made this by yourself), let me know! I feel like my version of this recipe did not do it justice. Whenever my mom made this I LOVED it. It is SO good. The ingredients are important though: it's best with a LOT of cherry tomatoes and a LOT of mozzarella! Yum! Will definitely be making this again (with more of the aforementioned necessities)!

Caprese Pasta Salad

1 lbs penne or oriechette pasta

1/4 cups olive oil

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1pints cherry tomatoes, halved

1tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper, optional

1/4 cups kalamata olives, sliced, optional

1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan for serving, more as needed

1 container bocconcini (mozzarella balls), or cut up chunks of mozzarella

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook penne according to package directions. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook, stirring, until just golden, about 1 minute. Add cherry tomatoes, oregano, crushed red pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring until tomato juices run, about 3 min.

Add the penne, olives if using, basil, and then remove to large serving dish and toss with mozzarella balls and Parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Turkey Meatloaf with Feta and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

My boyfriend told me he loved meatloaf, and I don't eat beef, so I decided to try a turkey meatloaf recipe my mom sent me a couple years ago and I never tried. It was moist, easy, and super delicious! I served it with dirty rice sans meat, and some broccoli, as per Adam's suggestion. It turned out to be a delicious and simple combination! Yum!

Turkey Meatloaf with Feta and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Recipe from Giada de Laurentiis

Vegetable cooking spray

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs

1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup chopped garlic and herb-marinated sun-dried tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, minced, optional

2 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons whole milk

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound ground turkey, preferably dark meat

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Spray a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, if using, eggs, milk, feta, salt, and pepper. Add the turkey and gently stir to combine, being careful not to overwork the meat.

Carefully pack the meat mixture into the prepared pan and bake until the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and slice. Put on a serving platter and serve.

Chicken Legs

For some reason, everybody always loves this meal. I took the hint from the fact that my younger brother loves this and used to be very picky about everything. It was never always my favorite but it's definitely good. I made it for a few friends over a month ago and I'd never made it before, but it makes a lot and the recipe (from my mom) was pretty straight forward.

I'd never cooked chicken legs before, let alone any chicken with skin, so I had no idea what it would look like through the baking process. I kept thinking it wasn't cooking right since it wasn't darkening fast enough, but after the full length of time (about an hour) they looked perfectly. It also freaked me out a little that before it was cooked, some of the skin around the feet was yellow...eww! But it makes sense that that would be completely normal, and they turned out great! Foolproof, easy recipe!

Baked Chicken Legs

Chicken Legs

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Place chicken legs on a greased baking sheet (do not use foil). Heavily season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder on both sides. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until skin is darker and crispy.

Cilantro Turkey Burgers With Chipotle Ketchup

Here it is--one of my absolute favorite meals (seriously, over the past year my mom has pretty much made it every single week) and the first meal I cooked for myself after I moved to San Francisco. I miss it so much already. I could eat this burger every day for the rest of my life, slathered in that delicious chipotle ketchup...ughhh so good. You will never, ever, EVER have a better burger.

Please make this, or at least try. Make it with the bun, make it without the bun, make it with a ton of fries or onion rings and cover those in the chipotle ketchup too...make extra ketchup, trust me.

Cilantro Turkey Burgers with Chipotle Ketchup
Recipe From Cooking Light

1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1/4 cup (1 ounce) preshredded Parmesan cheese
>1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound ground turkey
Cooking spray
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
4 (2 1/2-ounce) whole wheat hamburger buns
4 red leaf lettuce leaves


Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Divide turkey mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/3-inch-thick patty.

Heat a large grill pan or large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add turkey patties, and cook 5 minutes on each side or until done.

Place 1 patty on bottom half of each bun; top each patty with 1 tablespoon chipotle ketchup and 1 lettuce leaf. Cover with top halves of buns.

Remove 1 chile and 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from can. Reserve remaining chiles and sauce for another use. Mince the chile. Combine chile, adobo sauce, and ketchup.

Carmelized Orange and Arugula Flatbread

Did I ever share this recipe before? No, I don't think so. I had all the photos in a folder on my Desktop to make it hard for me to forget...but then I just got lazy. I made these MONTHS ago to surprise my mom, who loves the Carmelized Orange and Arugula Flatbread at one of her favorite restaurants. She said these were pretty darn close to the real thing!

Carmelized Orange and Arugula Flatbread
Recipe from Twin Tables


Pizza Dough (recipe below)
2 Navel oranges
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon fresh black pepper, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups wild baby arugula
Large crystal sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll half of the pizza dough into a large oval, reserve remaining for another use.  Combine juice of one orange, olive oil, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl.  Whisk until well combined.  Brush dough with vinaigrette until moist.

Place brown sugar on a plate.  Very thinly slice the remaining orange.  Dip one side of each orange slice into sugar and place on prepared pizza dough.  Bake for 12 minutes or until crust is golden and bottom crispy.  Toss the arugula in remaining vinaigrette and pile atop pizza.  Sprinkle all with remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper and sea salt to taste.

Yield: 2 to 4 Servings

Pizza dough
2-3/4 to 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 pkg active dry yeast or 2 1/4 tsp
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water (120 degrees F to 130 degrees F)
1/2 Tbsp olive oil

In a large mixing bowl combine 1-1/4 cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt; add warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total) . Divide dough into 2 pieces. Cover; let rest for 10 minutes. (After 10 minutes, wrap up one of the doughs and place in the freezer for a future use.)

Another actual update. MORE CUPCAKES!!

Now I remember why I took such a long break from baking.

Baking makes me fat.

I seriously cannot control myself.

But on a side note, look how cute!

These were for my birthday party last week. Dinosaur-themed yumminess.

Red velvet were the ones I made before, here.

The other ones are...dun-dun-dun...(besides magic)...

Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

Recipe from Cooking Classy

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 recipe Caramel Frosting, recipe follows

Salted Caramel Frosting:

1 cup salted butter, at room temperature

4 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup Caramel Sauce, recipe follows (cooled completely)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

Caramel Sauce:

1 1 /2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp water

6 Tbsp salted butter

1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large heat proof mixing bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and baking soda. Carefully pour in boiling water and whisk until bubbling subsides and mixture is well blended, allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a separate large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer set on low speed, blend together melted butter, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, vanilla and salt until well combined, about 30 seconds. Stir in eggs and eggs yolks, mixing just until combined after each addition. Blend in cocoa mixture then blend in heavy cream. Slowly mix in flour and blend until combined, while scraping down sides and bottom of bowl.

Divide batter among 24 paper lined muffin cups and bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 18 - 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in muffin tin several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool. Cool completely then frost with caramel frosting, drizzle with room temperature caramel sauce (I poured the caramel sauce in a small Ziploc bag and cut a very small tip off end to drizzle) and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Store in an airtight container.

For the salted caramel frosting:

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, whip butter on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 - 4 minutes. Add powdered sugar and blend on low speed until mixture comes together. Add caramel sauce and vanilla and whip on medium-high speed until light and fluffy about 2 minutes.

For the caramel sauce:

Gather all of your ingredients and have them nearby ready to add to the mixture as needed. In a heavy-bottomed 3 quart saucepan, heat sugar and water over moderately high heat whisking constantly to dissolve sugar. Once mixture reaches a boil, stop whisking and allow mixture to boil until it reaches a dark amber color, carefully swirling pan occasionally. Once mixture reaches a dark amber color, immediately add butter and whisk until butter has melted then immediately remove from heat. Wait 3 seconds then carefully pour in cream and immediately whisk to combine (it will bubble vigorously). Whisk until mixture is smooth. Allow caramel to cool several minutes then pour into a glass jar to cool completely and refrigerate.

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

If I'm making another vanilla buttercream in my life, it's going to be this frosting. SO. SO good. The cupcakes were great too--the frosting and cupcakes went perfectly together. It tastes best on the first day (after you refrigerate it the frosting hardens a bit) but is still delicious no matter what! A great alternative to storebought funfetti!

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes
Recipe from Annie's Eats

1 cup whole milk, divided
6 large egg whites
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. almond extract
2¾ cups cake flour, sifted
1½ cups sugar
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
12 tbsp. (¾ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup multi-colored sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a liquid measuring cup, combine ¼ cup of the whole milk, egg whites, vanilla and almond extracts.  Whisk to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Mix briefly on low speed to combine, about 30 seconds.  Add in the butter and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles wet sand, about 30 seconds.  Mix in the remaining ¾ cup of milk, then increase the speed to medium and beat for about 90 seconds more.  With the mixture on low speed, add the egg white mixture in three additions, mixing for about 20 seconds after each addition.  Scrape down the bowl as needed.  Gently fold in the sprinkles with a spatula.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about two-thirds of the way full.  Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes.  Let cool in the pan briefly, then transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Prepare the vanilla buttercream.  Add the buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip.  Frost as desired.  Garnish with additional sprinkles.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Recipe from Annie's Eats

1½ cups plus 2 tbsp. (3 sticks plus 2 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (optional)
2 tbsp. heavy cream
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners’ sugar to the bowl and mix on medium-low speed just until incorporated. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean pod (if using) into the bowl and add in the salt. Continue to beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Mix in the heavy cream and vanilla on low speed just until incorporated. Increase the mixer speed and whip on high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed, about 4-5 minutes.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

If you're looking for something to make for breakfast--for guests, family, work, yourself--look no further. Please, stop looking and just try this recipe. It's really, really good, and really, really easy. I've always wanted to try making coffee cake and I finally did it! I didn't eat it with coffee--you don't have to--but it's a delicious cake and was perfectly dense and just...great. I'm not sure what coffee cake is supposed to taste like, actually, but I think it should taste like this one. My older brother liked it a lot, too--and he's a coffee lover and usually doesn't care for most of the things I make--so I'm definitely liking this recipe.

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
Recipe adapted by The Baker Chick from King Arthur's Flour

Streusel topping
2/3 cups granulated sugar
pinch of  salt (if you use unsalted butter)
3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling
1 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (for color not for taste- you can leave it out if you want.)

Cake
3/4 cup butter softened
1 teaspoon salt (1 ¼ teaspoons if you use unsalted butter)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt. (regular yogurt would also be ok.)
1 1/4 cups milk (anything from skim to whole)
3 3/4 cups All-Purpose Flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, or two 9" round cake pans.

Make the topping by whisking together the sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter, stirring till well combined. Set the topping aside.

Make the filling by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Set it aside.

To make the cake: In a large bowl, beat together the butter, salt, sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk till well combined. You don't need to whisk out all the lumps.

Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk/yogurt mixture, beating gently to combine.

Pour/spread half the batter (about 3 cups) into the prepared pan(s), spreading all the way to the edges. If you're using two 9" round pans, spread 1 1/3 cups batter in each pan.

Sprinkle the filling evenly atop the batter.

Gently spread the remaining batter atop the filling. Use a table knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter, as though you were making a marble cake. Don't combine filling and batter thoroughly; just swirl the filling through the batter.

Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.

Bake the cake until it's a dark golden brown around the edges; medium-golden with no light patches showing on top, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes for the 9" x 13" pan, 50 to 55 minutes for the 9" round pans. When pressed gently in the middle, the cake should spring back.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve cake right from the pan.

Note: If you wanna make this ahead of time for a brunch or something just cover it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Bake as directed, but you may need to add 5 mins extra or so since the batter will be cold!

Chicken Gyros

This recipe is so yummy! They would make great chicken burgers, too. I will definitely make this again--the minted yogurt sauce was delish, too.

I made this for dinner one night with Greek Salad (and individual tirimisu for dessert!) that I'll post later. I've never broiled anything but it turned out perfect! Making it with ground chicken worked like a charm--you could get all those delicious spices and herbs in there and it tasted a lot better than just marinated chicken inside a gyro.

Chicken Patties with Mint Yogurt Sauce
Recipe adapted by Very Culinary from Emeril Lagasse
Serves 4 in pita pockets

1 pound ground chicken
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pita pockets, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and cucumbers, for serving
Minted yogurt sauce, for serving

Minted Yogurt Sauce
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Coarse salt and ground pepper

For the yogurt sauce: in a small bowl, stir together yogurt, mint, and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until the chicken patties are done.

Heat broiler, with rack in highest position. In a large bowl, combine chicken, egg whites, breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, garlic, salt, and spices and mix until well blended. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Divide chicken mixture into 8 equal portions and place on sheet. Shape each into round or oval patties and use your hand to flatten slightly. Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil over patties.

Broil until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Flip and cook until cooked through, about 4 minutes more. Serve in pita pockets with the Mint Yogurt sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers, if desired.

Banana Pudding

Look delicious? I think this is one of the best things I've made. I cheated with the whipped cream and used store-bought, but next time I'd definitely whip my own because I realized nothing beats homemade whipped cream. I also bought Nilla Wafers for this. The original recipe said I could make 8 small servings or 4 large. I put the pudding into 6-oz glasses and it made 4. I think next time I'd add ,more bananas and maybe a center layer, but it was fine the way it was, too. Definitely try this if you get a change! Homemade pudding is delicious!

Banana Pudding Parfaits

Adapted by Me from Annie's Eats

Yield: 4 servings

1/6 cup all-purpose flour

3/8 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups milk

1 1/2 tbsp. butter, at room temperature, divided

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1-2 ripe bananas, sliced

Vanilla wafers (mini if you make parfaits)

For the topping:

whipped cream

In a medium saucepan, combine the flour, sugar, and salt.  Whisk in the egg yolk, then the milk. Place the saucepan over medium heat. Add in 1 tablespoons of the butter. Cook, whisking frequently, until the mixture bubbles and thickens significantly. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the vanilla and the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of butter.

Layer individual serving dishes (4-5 oz) with vanilla wafers and banana slices.  Fill each dish with some of the pudding until all pudding is gone, nearly to the top of the serving dishes. Crush up several vanilla wafers and layer it on top, finishing with another layer of banana slices as desired. Cover with plastic wrap and let chill until well set, at least 2-3 hours.

Garnish with whipped cream and additional vanilla wafers.

Snickerdoodles

I've made a couple versions of the classic snickerdoodles before, but so far I think these are my favorites! Of course I still think these Chai Snickerdoodles are something you HAVE to make, but they have a different flavor for the regular snickerdoodles. Definitely I'll make these again as my current go-to snickerdoodle recipe!

Snickerdoodles
Recipe from Food.com

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.

Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.

Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.

Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.

Scoop 1 inch globs of dough into the sugar/ cinnamon mixture.

Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture.

Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes.

Remove from pan immediately.

Banana Cake that you HAVE to make!

If you can, please make this, right now. It's a cake that comes together VERY easily. I made this for my birthday party on the 10th. I'd been planning on making this cake for months, actually, but I didn't know that this cake would be as amazing as it was. I'm used to making chocolate cakes for my friends, and so I chose to make myself a banana cake for my birthday, because I don't really like chocolate cake. So I picked this recipe out because it seemed like an easy choice. I wanted to make a small cake in case people didn't like it (my mom ended up buying me a second cake...so people could have Red Velvet (delicious) if they didn't like banana). Everybody loved it.

I made a few changes to the original frosting recipe. I doubled it so that I could remove the cake from the pan (I took it out of the pan about a half-hour after I took it out of the oven, and poured the batter into a pan lined with parchment paper to make that easy--I also used a 9-in square pan), and instead of using vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste or doubling the vanilla at all, I replaced that with the seeds of one vanilla bean, which made it taste absolutely amazing. It was really sweet and complemented the banana cake perfectly--well, at least I think so. Yum! Don't hesitate to make this!

Banana Cake with Vanilla Bean Frosting
Recipe from ButterYum
Frosting Recipe adapted by me

Cake:
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 mashed super ripe bananas (about 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting:
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy cream
Seeds of one vanilla bean
3 cups confectioner's sugar

To make cake (easily mixed by hand):
Preheat the oven to 375F (see note below). Cream together sugar, sour cream, egg, and 2 tablespoons softened butter. Add mashed bananas and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add flour, salt, and baking soda; mix well. Pour into greased pan. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting:
Cream butter and confectioner's sugar together until smooth. Slowly add the heavy cream; stir until smooth. Stir in the vanilla bean paste until fully incorporated. Spread on cooled cake.

Note - Bake at 350F if using a glass pan. Recipe doubles well (9x13 pan).

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream

I wanted to find a simple recipe that I could use without an electric mixer and without complicated ingredients, and came across this one. Luckily there was buttermilk at our local mini-grocery-store in collegetown. I didn't use hot coffee but the boiling water was perfect anyway.

This cake was for my friend's 21st birthday on friday, and it was a huge hit! I made 3 layers and the frosting was barely enough for me, just a warning. I couldn't find butter anywhere so I used store-bought white frosting...kinda cheated...but oh well it wasn't a big extra. People thought the cake was extremely moist and the frosting was very smooth, and so it was great, and could easily be my newest go-to chocolate cake, minus one huge detail: You DEFINITELY, in my opinion anyway, need to line the bottom of the cake pans with parchment paper. I didn't. They kinda fell apart. I managed to put them back together okay, but the middle layer looked pretty bad before I covered the whole thing with frosting.

Double Chocolate Cake
Recipe from Foodessa
Found on Pinch of Yum
Adapted by me

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup hot coffee (or 1 cup boiling water)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease three round baking pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper, greasing the top of that, and set them aside. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract; beat 2 minutes on medium speed. Stir in hot coffee.

Pour batter evenly between the three pans and bake on middle rack of oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Recipe from Confessions of a Tart
Found on Pinch of Yum

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (more to your tastes)
1/2 cup milk
2-3 cups of powdered sugar (more or less to achieve desired consistency)

Whip the room-temperature butter on medium speed. Shift to low and add cocoa powder slowly, spoonfuls at a time, until fully incorporated. Still on low, add in the powdered sugar (also one spoonful at a time), alternating with the milk, to achieve desired consistency and taste. Then, beat on medium speed until very light and fluffy, another 3-5 minutes. Add in more sugar if consistency is too thin.

Chai Snickerdoodles

I cannot begin to tell you how delicious these cookies are. I like chocolate, but not as much as something different. Snickerdoodles in general are okay. But these are snickerdoodles with a chai twist, and they are SO. SO. Good. And easy. So if you want something different from the regular chocolate or the regular snickerdoodle, try these.

Chai Snickerdoodles
Recipe from My Madison Bistro

1 ¾ cups granulated sugar, divided
½ cup room temperature unsalted butter*
½ cup non-hydrogenated shortening*
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

Preheat oven to 400*F

Sift the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Cream 1 ½ cups sugar, the butter, and shortening on medium speed. Add eggs, 1 at a time, until mixed.

Reduce speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until just combined, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as needed.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining ¼ cup sugar with the spices

Form dough into 1 ¼ inch balls and roll in sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes; cool 5 minutes on baking sheet before removing to wire rack to thoroughly cool.

*You can use all butter for this recipe, or substitute coconut oil for the non-hydrogenated shortening.