Sisters Baking Day, Part One

Every one in a while you should really take a day off work. For no reason. Not for an appointment, not for anything you HAVE to do. Just one day, preferably a Friday, stretching out your weekend and giving you some down time to just relax and do something just for you. Something fun and carefree. That's exactly what we did, my "sister" Jessica and I. We took a day off of adult life and had a Baking Day.

We didn't totally fly by the seat of our pants, we did write up a list and a loose plan. We started with the ingredients we already had on hand and built from there. We managed to scrape together quite a few solid ingredients to build off: cake mix, flour, sugars, a can of raspberry pie filling, a couple fresh peaches, canned blueberries, a little bit of leftover granola, some cherry chips, an assortment of extracts. We headed off to Aldi to get a last few things- we needed fresh citrus fruits for zests and juices, grabbed some cream cheese just in case, some nuts, real butter, and we were in business.

Not gonna lie here, we did grab a brownie mix at Aldi. Brownie mixes are just too easy and really very good to mess with all the melting and mixing of scratch brownies, especially when Aldi had a special buy on Ghirardelli brownie mix. We baked the brownies in mini muffin cups for the perfect two bite brownie treats.

The first recipe we put together was a super easy recipe you're going to want to remember. You start with a cheat item- cake mix. This is the easiest recipe to switch up to suit your tastes and ingredients on hand. Any cake mix, and add-ins. When using a white cake mix, you want to stick with egg whites only, so we used three. If you're using other cake mixes, two whole eggs are perfect. Here is what we did:

Almond Cherry Chip Cookies

1 box 2 layer size white cake mix

1/2 cup oil

3 egg whites

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1/2 cup mini cherry chips*

1/2 cup toasted sliced or slivered almonds

*We used Gurley Golden Recipe brand mini chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the cake mix, oil and egg together.

Stir in the chips and almonds. 

Use a cookie scoop to make evenly sized cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Jessica's scoop is about a perfect rounded tablespoon.

Bake for 10 minutes until just lightly browned on the bottom. Let the cookies set on the cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes before removing to a rack to cool. 

We dusted them generously with powered sugar. So so so delicious!!

Up next we were thinking about things that could also go into the freezer, so we'd have treats for future road trips or busy mornings. Naturally muffins were the first thing we thought of! A while back we had a road trip to Boone and visited the Dutch bakery there where we got the most delicious cranberry orange muffins. That's what we decided on. Jessica had some dried cranberries in the cupboard, and fresh oranges and nuts were newly purchased so here is how we made them:

Orange Cranberry Mini Muffins

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

zest of one orange

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Use a mixer for this, it's so much easier. Beat in the eggs and vanilla, the zest and then stir in the milk. 

Combine with the dry ingredients, mixing just enough to combine. Don't overmix or the muffins will be tough. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.

Use a scoop to fill the mini muffin pans. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until muffins are done. Remove from pan and cool on a rack. Dip tops of cooled muffins into orange glaze, or drizzle over them.

Simple Orange Glaze

3/4 cup powdered sugar

freshly squeezed orange juice

Mix together with a whisk until desired consistency. Dip muffins or drizzle over.

The glaze adds just the perfect sweetness and is a great way to use the orange left over after zesting. It's the ultimate topping for these tasty little muffin bites and sets up well so you don't have a sticky mess.

We had plenty more baking on the agenda, so stay tuned!! You won't want to miss the Bars part of our Sisters Baking Day. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Annnnnd just like that, it's Autumn again

Just like that....poof.....summer is gone. Leaves are turning. Sweaters and hoodies are getting pulled out. Pumpkin spice everything is all around us. It's autumn, without a doubt my favorite time of year. It's my favorite for lots of reasons- my birthday is in the autumn, so is my oldest daughter's, the food we start to prepare, and bake, are homey and spicy and comforting, and best of all, my wedding anniversary will forever be a happy autumn day for me. As soon as September hits I get that urge to start baking again. The air conditioner is off for the season and the warm oven will keep us cozy for the time being, with the delicious aromas of baking- bread, cookies for The Chef, cinnamon and spice, roast turkey and pork. It's all so delicious and wonderful.

Buckeye Brownies, left, and Katie's Pumpkin Bars

Katie and I love to spend evenings and weekends baking and often do so together. Sometimes we can get her sons interested and they lend a helping hand, other times they are more interested in the end product. Both of our chef hubbies just want the baked goodies. We spend a lot of time hunting for good new recipes, changing things up, creating. We have old favorites and new discoveries every year. Today we are going to make two easy desserts to kick off our baking season. First is a pan of Buckeye Brownies, a super easy brownie recipe that's great for pot lucks and holiday get togethers. Chances are if you're a Midwesterner you've had Buckeyes on holiday cookie trays before- creamy peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate. This brownie recipe makes it easy with no messy dipping. The second is a revival of a craze that swept the internet and Pinterest right off their feet a couple years ago- cake balls, with easy to make Pumpkin Spice Cake Balls. Are you ready ?? Let's hit the pumpkin patch. No seriously, we are not really hitting the pumpkin patch. I mean, you totally can if you want to but we'll be using some cheater packaged cake mixes that are going to bail us out!!!

Katie's Buckeye Brownies

1 package brownie mix (9x13 pan size)
ingredients as directed on box
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-2 tablespoons milk 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips
3/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment or spray with cooking spray and set aside.

Following the package directions, prepare the brownie mix. Spread into prepared pan and bake as directed on package. Let brownies cool completely.

In a large bowl, cream the peanut butter and butter together until fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, vanilla and salt.  Spread the peanut butter filling evenly over the cooled brownies.

Place chocolate chips in a medium boil. Heat the cream until almost boiling. Pour over the chocolate chips. After a couple minutes, whisk the mixture until smooth. Cool slightly, then pour evenly over the peanut butter filling. Spread evenly. Pop in the fridge to set. Cut into small squares to serve- these guys are RICH.

For our cake balls we are using Katie's recipe for the easiest pumpkin bars in the world. Again, it starts with a cake mix but uses no eggs or oil. Of course, we trash the healthy stuff with all the frosting and melted chocolate but hey, one cake ball never killed anyone, right? These are fun to make with kids if you can get them to decorate FAST. The chocolate sets up very quickly. For delicious pumpkin bars, use the frosting to top the bars and sprinkle with chopped nuts. I think this is a recipe you will use again and again.

Katie's Pumpkin Bars Cake Balls

1 package spice cake mix
1 can pumpkin  NOT pumpkin pie mix
4 tablespoons water
1 can cream cheese frosting
2 packages orange candy melts
sprinkles and decorations

Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine the cake mix, pumpkin and water, whisk together. Spread into 9x13 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 20-25 minutes until tests done with toothpick. Cool completely.

Crumble the cake into a large bowl. Stir in the frosting, starting with half the container, adding more as needed until a firm dough forms. Scoop into truffle size balls. Freeze two hours or longer.

Melt the candy melts as package directs. Dip the cake balls in the melted chocolate, and decorate immediately with sprinkles, candies, nuts, whatever you like. Store in the fridge.

Both of our families love these cake balls. It's a holiday request every year, every holiday. You can use any baked cake you like if pumpkin isn't your thing. Just follow the directions on the package to make a 9x13 cake.

Sinful Brownies

Let me just say, my experience as a junior Brand Ambassador for Sinful Food has been a very rewarding experience. Using these products to create delicious dishes has really been a great experience, working with and learning from Brand Ambassador Michaela Rosenthal has been such a huge boost to my confidence and holy cow, her cooking expertise and knowledge..... just wow! So is chatting with and getting to know the company founder, Chris. It was during one of those conversations that he mentioned expanding their line to include high end chocolate and coffees as well and he wanted to know if I'd be interested in checking them out, possibly creating some new dishes or desserts. Of course I would! As I explained to Chris, I am the Baker in this house and dessert is right up my alley.

Chris was so excited talking about the new line of chocolate, made from certified heirloom Arriba Nacional beans, the chocolate is 70% cocoa and is 100% dairy free. Of course, I then had to learn as much as I could about chocolate production and how it's grown and then made into what we know and love. Chocolate begins as a plant, and I often joke about cocoa beans being a vegetable and see? Chocolate is healthy! In all seriousness, it actually does come from a plant- the cacao tree to be specific, which grows in the warm moist equatorial region of South America. Each tree produces these really colorful pods that contain as many as 50 seeds which are actually the cacao beans. When the pods turn bright orange they are ripe,and they are cut off and the seeds are harvested. The beans are removed by hand and fermented covered with banana leaves. After a thorough drying in the sun you have the cocoa beans we are all familiar with.

Cocoa beans then go through several processes to make chocolate- roasting, removing the nibs from the shells, grinding- to eventually end up with cocoa powder and cocoa butter. You might have heard of cocoa nibs- a lot of pastry chefs use them in different recipes. Dark chocolate is simply cocoa powder, cocoa butter and sugar. Milk chocolate has milk powder added and white chocolate is cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder. The next step in the process is called "conching" and combines kneading, rolling, aeration and heat using a large mixer of sorts called a conche to manipulate the chocolate mixture. The longer a chocolate is mixed in the conche, the smoother the finished chocolate will be. After this point the chocolate is tempered and ready to package for shipment. It can be shaped into bars, cubes, pastilles, chips- whatever the chocolate maker prefers. This is the chocolate the you and I buy in the store. You know, the vegetable *wink wink*.

Testing out the new chocolate was fun for me too. The sinfully delicious chocolate is available in four varieties- pure 70% chocolate, Espresso, Mint and Pink Himalayan Salt. All four chocolates are excellent for eating, perfect for wine tasting and lovely for cooking and baking. The bars come in 50g sizes and are scored for easy portioning. Sampling the varieties was so heavenly. Deep dark chocolate flavor, kissed with a hint of espresso, a whisper of cool mint, the unexpected bite of Himalayan pink salt. This chocolate is amazing you need to get yours!!!

Since that conversation I have been busy thinking. What should I make? Pastry? Cake? Cookies? So many options........

I ended up deciding to go with a classic chocolate dessert- brownies. Melted chocolate makes a much richer and fuller flavored brownie than the cocoa powder recipes and what better way to use Sinful Food chocolate that a totally decadent chocolate brownie? Pick your flavor too- espresso? Mint? Original? Either one is perfect to amp up your brownie recipe.

Sinful Brownies

4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate

3/4 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teapsoon instant coffee, crushed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

1 50g bar Sinful Food chocolate, coarsely broken/chopped 

Hat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray for baking and set aside.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a medium bowl- a microwave works great for this step. Microwave for two minutes to melt the butter. Stir the chocolate until completely melted and smooth. Stir in the sugar, then add the eggs, vanilla, coffee and salt, finally, mix in the flour. Stir in the chocolate.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Be careful not to overbake.

These brownies are soooo fudgy and delicious. Resist the temptation to add frosting- you do not need it. You can add whatever nuts you have on hand if you like.

The chocolate is so rich and densely flavored. The instant coffee crystals add a special something to the flavor you can't quite place- you don't taste it, but believe me it adds a backnote of flavor you will appreciate. The broken chunks of chocolate are so rich and add a BIG punch of chocolate flavor and creamy texture.