Baby Cake Baby Cake

Hi Everyone! How are all of you? I am sorry it’s been a while since my last post… a few things here and there have happened that put me out of commission for a couple of weeks! I can’t say that I haven’t baked though- that is my source of stress relief! I just haven’t had all the energy to blog about each of them. Hopefully I can get right back in it now! Today’s recipe is quite fun :) I made a cake for a baby shower so this one outlines some of my decorating tips but you can easily just use the cake recipe and then decorate it however you like.

Don’t you feel like Bundt cakes are a lost art these days? I swear you never see them anymore! I know they may seem a little old-fashioned but they are usually really moist, tasty cakes. I think one of the first recipes I posted was a Bailey’s Irish Cream Bundt…so amazing!! They are super easy to do and the recipes are usually quite simple- you can even use a cake box mix. The reason I actually picked this recipe for the shower was because it was mid-week and I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time. Bundt’s are pretty standard…you mix up a batter, pour it in the pan and bake for about an hour. As long as your grease the pan really good, it falls right out. Then I bought a few fun things to decorate and wa-la, you have a cute, tasty cake for your next event!

What you need for the cake:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup butter, softened 
1/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup milk

What you need for the glaze:

1 cup butter

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon light corn syrup (you could use maple syrup here if you want to switch up flavors a bit)

1 teaspoon vanilla (almond extract is another flavor option)

Decorations:

Baby stickers

Piece of cardstock

Chip clip (or standing picture frame clip)

Pacifiers (I used 4 but you can use as many as you like!)

Blue and pink sugar crystals

To make the cake:

1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease the bottom and side of 12-cup fluted tube cake pan with shortening (Crisco); lightly flour.

3. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

4. In a large bowl, beat 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, the granulated sugar and softened butter with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping the side of the bowl as needed. Once combined, beat on medium speed about 5 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally, until light and fluffy. Don’t skimp on this beating…it really makes the cake fluffy and moist! 

5. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla.

6. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with 3/4 cup milk on low speed until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. 

7. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan to a cooling rack. Cool completely.

8. Using a long, wooden skewer poke holes over the entire cake (this is to help the glaze absorb).

To make the glaze:

9. Meanwhile, while your cake is cooling, start the sauce. In a 2-quart saucepan, heat all sauce ingredients except vanilla to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly; boil and stir for 2 minutes more. 

10. Remove from heat and let it cool to the touch (about 10 minutes); then stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Put it all together:

11. I first poked the holes in the top of the cake like I mentioned above and then also cut out four sections that were about the size of the top of the pacifiers. (Save these pieces of cake- it will help with the middle section.) 

12. Then I basted the sauce on top of the cake until I couldn’t get any more to absorb…then I poured even more of it over the top! (As a side note, I still had a lot leftover so you can probably either cut the sauce recipe in half or serve it on the side.) 
13. Next, I sprinkled blue and pink sugar crystals on top while the sauce was still wet so they would stick. Then I pushed the pacifiers back in the holes I had cut out! 

14. For the center piece I just cut a piece of card-stock freehand and used some baby stickers I found in the scrapbooking section at Wal-Mart. The chip clip is held in place in the center of the cake using the leftover pieces from the pacifier holes. I just wedged the pieces in the middle around the chip clip to hold it there. A standing clip photo frame would work best but I couldn’t find any at the last minute so this worked just fine.

Everyone really enjoyed the cake. I think this is a perfect recipe for the upcoming Christmas holiday parties. You could use red and green sugar crystals instead!

ENJOY!

Not your average oatmeal cookie!

Double recipe week! If you really know me, you know that I’m addicted to Raisinets…and I mean really addicted! I love the things and eat them by the handful (which is not a good idea because I take way too many!) So honestly, I’m not quite sure why it has taken me so long to make these! Oatmeal raisin cookies are great. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are awesome. So oatmeal Raisinet cookies have to be out of this world, right?! Guess we’re about to find out!

OATMEAL RAISINET COOKIES

What you need for the cookies:

1 cup (2 sticks of butter )
2/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)

2/3 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cup Raisinets

To make the cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together.

4. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture.

5. Mix in the oats and Raisinets.

6. If you have the patience, chill the dough for a bit in the fridge (this helps make the cookies thicker).

7. When ready, make 1 to 1 ½ inch balls of dough and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

 

8. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes. The edges should be golden but not too brown.

9. Transfer them to a rack and cool (or dive in while they’re still warm and gooey!)

 

ENJOY!!

Goat Cheese Baguettes

Hi Everyone! Hope your November has been off to a great start! I have a fun new appetizer recipe to share with you! I would be honored if you’d give this one a try at your Thanksgiving feast this year. Now I know many of you may be skeptical of the goat cheese but I promise that the other ingredients really tone down the flavor and these little guys are just out of this world!

This is an adaptation of a recipe that Danny and I learned at Adelinos Old World Kitchen here in Lafayette, IN. They offer cooking classes during the fall-spring and Danny bought me a couple for Christmas last year (not that I need any help, mind you! Just to ‘broaden my horizons’ so to speak. ;) When the class starts, there is a list of recipes that will be made that evening; we go around the room and pick one that sounds appealing and/or interesting to us. Danny was last and no one wanted this little bugger- my guess is because of the goat cheese! However, at the end of the class, we all had to go around the room and talk about the recipes we liked; this one was by far the class favorite and everyone said they couldn’t believe how much they enjoyed it!  As an added bonus, I’ve thrown in a homemade candied walnut recipe that you can use with this. I think it goes a long way so if you have the time to make them, do it! This recipe will not only impress your guests but develop their palettes along the way!

GOAT CHEESE BAGUETTES

What you need for the goat cheese baguettes:

French Baguette (you can make your own but I used store bought- take and bake variety)

1 cup goat cheese

~1/2 cup diced figs (this is about 7-9 whole figs)

~1/2 cup candied walnuts (recipe below- or you can buy them)

Honey

To make the goat cheese baguettes:

1. If you use the take and bake variety of the French baguette, go ahead and cook it to packaged directions. When it’s done, take it out and let cool for about 10 minutes. You can make the goat cheese mixture in the meantime.

2. Measure out about 1 cup of goat cheese and crumble it in a bowl.

3. Chop up your dates and walnuts, then measure out about 1/2 cup of each.   

 Add to the goat cheese bowl.

I know it looks strange but it tastes great!

4. Mix it up with a spoon and then pop it in the fridge while you go back to work on your bread.

5. Slice your French bread into 1-inch thick pieces. Place evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes at 350 degrees until the tops get nice and golden and crusty.

6. Take your goat cheese mixture out of the fridge and evenly place a scoop on top of your crusty bread.  (Side note, this mixture can be made up to a week ahead of time as long as you keep it covered in the fridge…makes this a really easy appetizer to throw together at the last minute.)

7. Place slices back in the oven and bake for another 7-9 minutes until the mixture is nice and hot.

8. As soon as you pull the bread out of the oven, drizzle each slice with a little bit of honey. 

I swear- you are not going to believe how amazing this is!!

ENJOY!

BONUS: CANDIED WALNUTS

What you need for the walnuts:

(Note, you don’t need this many for the recipe above but you can keep the extras to snack on-they are good!)

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups raw walnut halves

To make the walnuts:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lay walnuts out on a baking sheet in a single layer on parchment paper (if you have it). Bake for 5 minutes. As soon as you can smell them- they’re done! If not quite toasted enough, toast for 1 or 2 more minutes. Be careful not to burn-this can happen pretty easily!

2. Remove from oven and let cool.

3. Pour sugar into a medium saucepan. (Have your walnuts nearby, ready to quickly add to the pan at the right time.)

4. Cook sugar on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon as soon as the sugar begins to melt. 

Not quite done...

Keep stirring until all the sugar has melted and the color is a medium amber.

Perfect!

5. As soon as sugar is melted and the color is a medium amber, add the walnuts to the pan, quickly stirring and coating each piece with the sugar mixture.

6. Once the walnuts are coated with the sugar mixture, spread them out on a rimmed baking sheet, lined with parchment paper (you can use the piece you just used from toasting).

7. Use two forks to separate the walnuts from each other, working quickly. (It’s okay if they don’t all separate- you can chop them up later!)

8. Let cool completely.

Yummy!!

Buffalo Meatballs

Good Afternoon and Happy Football Sunday!! It's time for another savory snack! In honor of a sports afternoon in this house (both football and NASCAR are on!), we're doing a twist on a fan favorite: Buffalo Balls! It's the spicy and tangy-ness of a wing, but in meatball form! Yum! This recipe is adapted from one I found on Pinterest and I'm super excited to give them a try!

What you need for the meatballs:
1 1/4 pound ground turkey
3 oz cream cheese
2 eggs
1/4 C chopped celery (diced finely)
1/4 C crumbled blue cheese
2-3 T plain bread crumbs

What you need for the sauce:
1 stick of butter (melted)
1 C buffalo sauce (I used Frank's)

1. Combine all of the meatball ingredients except the breadcrumbs in a medium bowl. The mix will be sticky and gooey so add some plain crumbs to dry out the mixture a bit. Ours used about 2-3 tablespoons. (I am sorry but I didn't have my camera this morning and didn't have pictures of this process.) 

2. Refrigerate the balls for about 20 minutes to firm up (the cream cheese can make them a bit fragile). 

3. Meanwhile, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

4. Pull your mixture from the fridge. Form into about 1 inch balls- careful not to make them too big- and placed on prepared cookie sheet.

5. Bake for 10 minutes; take them out and flip. Bake for another 12-14 minutes until meatballs are cooked through (I always cut one in half to be sure). 

This is half-way cooked.

Flipped...

6. While your balls are baking, begin preparing the sauce. In a saucepan, melt your stick of butter; then add the buffalo sauce. Mix thoroughly.

Cooked all the way through...

7. Spread about 1/3 of the buffalo sauce on the bottom of a crockpot and turn it on low. When the meatballs are done, transfer to crock pot. Pour the remaining sauce on top. 

Everything should be hot so you can go ahead and try one now; the crock will just help keep them warm as you snack all afternoon ;) Try serving with celery sticks and ranch dressing- yum!! 

In the crockpot with sauce!

ENJOY!