Tag: baked

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Bars

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I did two things on this day I hadn’t done before. I made a successful shortbread base and a peanut butter fudge. I put those two amazing things together to make my favorite type of dessert…a tray bake!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 sticks of butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 1/2 cups of flour
  • 1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 cups peanut butter and chocolate chips
  • Peanuts for garnish

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper.
  2. Put all your ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and mix to combine. The mixture will be crumbly.
  3. using lightly oiled hands push down your ingredients in an even layer into your pan. Use a fork to dock the pastry so it doesn’t rise up to high.
  4. Bake the pastry for 30 minutes until it is a nice golden brown. Set it aside to cool.
  5. While the pastry base is cooling put a medium size sauce pan on medium heat.
  6. Put the condensed milk and chocolate into the pan and cook until the chocolate is melted and fully incorporated.
  7. Put your fudge mixture on top of your cooked pastry base and garnish with peanuts.
  8. Put in fridge to set for at least one hour.

This delicious tray bake almost tasted better the longer it set so if you can wait I would make it the day before you need it and let it sit.

Mincemeat Cake

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What is it?

Mincemeat pie is a British dessert filled with raisins, currants, candied peel, apples and brown sugar. It is normally cooked together with suet. If you are unfamiliar suet is a hard animal fat either beef or lamb. I’m not certain where to get Suet in the states so I used vegetable shortening. The pie has an origin that dates back to the 1400’s when the pie actually had mincemeat in it. It was a way to preserve meat without having to go through the usually methods of drying and curing.

Today Mincemeat Pie doesn’t have meat in it anymore. It is a spiced fruit pie served during Christmas time. I didn’t want to make pastry so I didn’t end up making pie. I made a simple square cake that made my whole house smell like Christmas.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups All purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 tbsp. pumpkin spice
  • 3 tbsp. melted butter
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs beaten

Mincemeat Mixture

  • 1 apple diced
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1/3 cup candied mixed peel
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. pumpkin spice
  • 1/4 cup vegetable shortening

Directions

  1. In a saucepan on medium heat place all your mincemeat mixture and cook until the apples have softened and the shortening and brown sugar melt together. Lower the heat and simmer while putting the rest of your batter together.
  2. Preheat your own to 370 degrees.
  3. In a medium mixing bowl whisk your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, pumpkin spice.
  4. Melt your butter in the microwave for a minute.
  5. Put oil and butter into the dry ingredients.
  6. In a small bowl beat the two eggs together and add to rest of your batter.
  7. Add your warm mincemeat mixture and whisk until the batter is well combined.
  8. Put batter in a 8×8 square cake tin and bake for 25-30 minutes until a knife comes out clean.

British Style Baked Beans

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British style beans you say? What does that mean? Well from what I can tell American baked beans tend to be a lot sweeter and the sauce tends to start with some sort of meat product. Predominantly pork product as I can tell.

British style beans tend to be a thinner tomato based sauce. They can have carrots, onion or celery in them. They are definitely less sweet then the American version but still have a little molasses or brown sugar in them. The recipe I based mine off of had both.

Ingredients

  • 1 can black eyed peas
  • 1 can Navy beans
  • 1 small can tomato sauce
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • 1 shallot, diced
  • 1 jalapeno, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, diced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 3 tbsp Worcester sauce.
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • Salt/pepper

Directions

  1. In a medium size pot place oil and cook on medium heat till it moves in the pan like water. Place shallot and jalapeno and cook till the shallot gets translucent.
  2. Add the garlic and cook another 3 minutes. Add vegetable stock and tomato sauce. Add the cornstarch and stir to combine. Add tomato paste and stir to combine. It will thicken your sauce.
  3. Add your beans and the rest of your ingredients one at a time.
  4. Cook for roughly 15 minutes until the sauce thickens.
  5. Serve with barbeque or just on toast.

Vegetable Cobbler

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The vegetable dish you definitely didn’t know you were waiting for, but definitely can’t live without now. This delicious savory tray bake is a use what you have in the fridge and pantry type of recipe. I’ll tell you what I used and the changes I might’ve made, but use what you’ve got. It’ll be delicious and filling either way.

Ingredients

For the scones

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 4 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1/3 cup cheddar cheese
  • 1 tbsp. rosemary, chopped
  • egg wash: 1 egg plus 1 tbsp water

For the vegetable mixture

  • 1 can Navy beans
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
  • 1 zucchini squash, diced
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 2 tbsp. Olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp. Garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. Onion powder
  • Salt/pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a medium size pot on medium high heat put olive oil and diced onion. Cook till onion is slightly colored. It’ll take about 5 minutes.
  3. Add garlic and cook another 3 minutes. Add Roma tomatoes and cook about 3 minutes. You just want to release some of the moisture in the tomatoes but not really cook them very hard.
  4. Add beans, stock, can of tomatoes, zucchini and dry spices and cook about 5 minutes.
  5. Place your vegetable mixture in a 13×9 glass casserole dish.
  6. Combine all your scone ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl and mix until it becomes a slightly dry dough.
  7. Lightly flour your work surface and turn out your dough. Knead gently until it comes together.
  8. Cut into about 10 small scones and place on top of your vegetable mixture.
  9. Egg wash all your scones so the tops will brown nicely.
  10. Bake for 15 minutes.

Yorkshire Puddings

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I figured out what’s been missing from every roast dinner I’ve ever had. It’s Yorkshire puddings! Yet again I found a reason to love British food culture. These delicious morsels are a baked pudding with a batter consisting of eggs, flour, salt and either milk or water. They are baked in a muffin tins with either oil or the drippings from your roast heated in the tin to help with the rising of a batter that has no raising agent in it. You can also bake them in a square baking dish and create one large pudding instead of individual ones.

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup oil

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. In a muffin tin divide half a cup of oil in between all sections. If using a baking dish just pour all the oil in. Heat the oil in the baking dish or muffin tin for about 10 minutes or until it starts smoking.
  2. While the oil is heating you want to make your batter. You can just chuck all the ingredients into one bowl and whisk until well combined. You don’t want any lumps in your batter.
  3. When the oil is ready pull your pan out of the oven and quickly put the batter in the tin. It will quickly react to the heat from your oil. That’s helping the eggs in the batter raise your little puddings.
  4. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown and well risen. Serve with whatever delicious roast you’ve put together.

If you’re using the drippings from your roast then after the roast is cooked you want to put it on a cutting board to rest. I tend to tent mine with aluminium foil. You then want to dish up your veggies into whatever serving bowl you’ve got. You want to make sure after you pull your roast out you put the temperature of your oven up to 450.

You can make the batter up to an hour ahead of time so that you’re ready when he roast is out to put the puddings in.

Baked Scotch Eggs

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A scotch egg is a British dish that consists of a soft boiled egg wrapped in sausage and covered in a herbed bread crumbs coating. Its then either baked or fried till the coating is crisp. I baked mine because home frying is a skill the eludes me.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound pork sausage
  • 4 soft boiled eggs
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tbsp fennel seed
  • Salt/pepper
  • 2 tbsp basil, chopped
  • 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
  • 1 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1 egg, beaten

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Place sausage, onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper and half your chopped herbs in bowl and combine well.
  3. In two smaller bowls put the beaten egg in one and in the other put your bread crumbs and herb mixture.
  4. Divide your sausage mixture into four equal parts. Flatten each sausage portion into a 4 inch circle.
  5. Place an egg in the center of the sausage party and wrap the egg entirely. Make sure no egg shows through. Do all four eggs like this.
  6. Dip each egg into the beaten egg bowl and let the excess drip off. Then roll in the panko and herb mixture.
  7. Place each egg on the baking sheet a couple inches from each other. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Flip half way through to get even browning.

Chocolate cloud cakes

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Chocolate marshmallow madness

I am a person who bakes for fun. I never thought I would be here but here we are. So now my stir crazy boredom has given life to cloud cakes. Fluffy chonky cookies with fudgy chocolate chunks and marshmallow. I call it nut allergy friendly Rocky road.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 1 tsp. Baking soda
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. Ground cinnamon
  • 2 sticks of room temp butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chunk
  • 1/3 cup mini marshmallows

Directions

  1. In the bowl of your stand mixer cream together your sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk together till fluffy and combined.
  2. In a separate bowl whisk together all dry ingredients till combined.
  3. Slowly combine dry ingredients with your wet until combined.
  4. Fold in your chocolate and marshmallow until mixed well through out.
  5. Bake in a preheated to 375 degree oven for roughly 18 minutes.

They are a cakey cookie because of the buttermilk so they take longer to cook.

Garbage Cookie

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Salty Sweet Amazing

These cookies were put together during a rare night I got to myself. I needed something sweet and a project to keep me busy.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 sticks butter
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup pretzel pieces
  • 1/2 cup mixed candy(m&m, peanut butter cups, butterscotch bits, etc.)

Directions

  1. Mix your flour, salt and baking soda together in a small mixing bowl.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer cream your butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs together till light and fluffy.
  3. Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients till well combined.
  4. Fold in your mix-ins till evenly combined in your dough.
  5. Spoon out your cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet. About an inch apart.
  6. Place a pretzel into the top of each cookie.
  7. Put in an oven preheated to 375 for 9 minutes till golden brown.

Ta Da! Garbage cookies!

Lemon Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies: An experiment

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Yesterday I was home with my son and decided I wanted to bake some cookies I had never made before. I Used Rosanna Pansino’s Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie recipe as a jumping off point. I added about 1/3 cup of lemon curd to the recipe. It made them very moist but strangely didn’t impart very much lemon flavor. I think the next time I make them I’m going to make them like thumb print cookies. I’ll create a well in the cookie so when it bakes there’s a place to put lemon curd after they’re baked. Then I’ll cool them so they resemble a lemon bar.

Ingredients

  • 1 and 1/4 sticks of butter
  • 3 ounces cream cheese
  • 3/4 granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tbsp. powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup lemon curd

Directions

  1. Mix everything except the flour in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until its light and fluffy.
  2. Add the flour and mix until well combined.
  3. Dump cookie dough onto your work surface and roll it into a tube shape. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour.
  4. Preheat oven to 375 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut pieces off the dough and roll into golf ball shapes. Smash dough ball to about half an inch. Cake for about 12 minutes.
  5. Let cool completely before you eat them.

When I let them cool completely the extra moisture sort of recombined into the cookie. Like letting a steak rest and letting the juices go back into the meat. They were not quite what I wanted but they had a good flavor. The texture of them was like cheesecake to a certain degree which I didn’t expect but was good.

I’m going to try them again at a later date and see if I can tweak the recipe a little.

Crisper Drawer Spice Cake

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So the other day I did a recipe lab for my Beef Ragout, and I had left over carrots and parsnips in my crisper drawer. Unlike lumiere I was not trying to feed a whole castle instead just 3 teensy weensy people, but Walmart won’t sell you these particular root vegetables individually.

Cut to last night as I’m standing in my kitchen craving carrot cake and thought…

“Why not put parsnips in it too?”

This sparked the best cake I think I’ve baked so far…Crisper Drawer Spice Cake.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger
  • 2 tbsp. pumpkin spice seasoning
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 cups mixed carrot/parsnip, grated (I used two parsnips and one carrot)

Directions

  1. Add all your dry ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer or a medium size mixing bowl. Mix on low setting to combine.
  2. Add oil, eggs and root veg mixture and stir until well combined.
  3. Place in a bread pan in a 350 degree oven for one hour.