Frosted Zucchini Bars

I will never be a truly successful blogger. Want to know why? Because I get all excited about my blog for about 6 months…then I get lazy. Or busy. Or both. And my poor blog suffers. However! If you stick with me, I promise that I will get to the ever-growing list of recipes. Promise.

Anyone else have zucchini coming out their ears from their over-successful garden? Yeah…me either. We actually have a ton of tomatoes this year (the ironic thing being, I’m the only one in my entire house that eats them) but our zucchini never made it. I think there’s something wrong with us. All of our neighbors got a ton! I’ll trade a few of my tomatoes so I can make these. 🙂 My sister passed this batch along and they look so good!!! (it’s times like these that you curse the fact that your sibling lives clear across the country and you can’t skip over to have a taste)

                            

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c. butter, softened
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 c. zucchini, grated

Frosting

• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp milk

Instructions

1. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, cinnamon and baking powder. Blend in zucchini.
2. Pour into greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool.
3. Prepare frosting. Add more milk if necessary to get right consistency. Spread over cooled bars.

http://www.julieseatsandtreats.com/2011/07/cinnamon-frosted-zucchini-bars/

 

Samoan Pancakes

There are so many fun versions of pancakes! I love me a good ol’ fashioned flap jack, but breakfast is so much more exciting when you try something a little different. This recipe is another from my grandma’s stash. They lived in Tonga and Hawaii for most of my mom’s life, so I trust Grandma’s islander recipes! And my kids love that they can eat these pancakes with their fingers. 🙂

 

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups milk

Drop by teaspoons into hot oil. Deep fry until golden brown and cooked through. Served buttered with syrup, or coat in sugar.

Key Lime Bars

Spring has sprung, and so has my craving for all things citrus!!! Take a step out of the traditional lemon-bar box and throw in a little key-lime twist. 🙂 The crust on these almost makes me more happy than the filling – almost. Yummy.

Ingredients:

Crust –

1 cup flour

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup pecans, chopped finely

1/4 cup flaked coconut

1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling –

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup sugar

2 tsp key lime zest

1/4 cup key lime juice

1/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350^F. Lightly butter and 8×8 baking pan.

For crust: Sift together flour and powdered sugar. Stir in pecans and coconut. Add butter. Press lightly in pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned.

While crust is baking, beat together eggs, sugar, zest, lime juice, and baking powder. Pour mixture over baked crust. Bake 13-17 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned and center is set. Cool completely. Cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar.

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve had a terrible hankering for chocolate chip cookies lately. I love the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse Chocolate Chips, but they turn into hockey pucks if you don’t eat them quickly. I made these cookies 4 or 5 days ago, and they are still soft! Hooray!!! My kind of cookie.

 

Ingredients

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups)  butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 pounds chocolate chips

Instructions

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside. Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy – about 5 minutes. Add eggs. Stir in vanilla. Reduce to low speed and add dry ingredients slowly, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 24-36 hours. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

*I didn’t have cake flour, so I just used all purpose flour – you can substitute the bread flour for all purpose as well, but it does help the cookies stay soft longer. I also did not refrigerate the dough for 24 hours. I only put it in for about 1/2 hour, and they still turned out great.

 

Original recipe: http://iambaker.net/chocolate-chip-cookies/

Ice Cream Cake

My brother-in-law turned 40 over the Christmas holidays, so we had to make him feel just a little bit old. 🙂 I had fun with this cake, but I felt like I cheated a little…ok, a lot! The only part I actually made was the cookie layer. But it turned out so good, I think I’d cheat again, regardless of my culinary conscience.

Ingredients:

Cookie Layer:
8 Tbsp (1/2 cup) butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease an 8″-round springform pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar.  Add the egg, then beat until pale and slightly fluffy. Whisk in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold the dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredients, until everything is incorporated. Then, fold in the chocolate chips. Spread this dough into an even layer in the prepared pan. Bake the cookie layer at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the middle should come out clean. Once the cookie is done, allow it to cool completely while in the pan.

Top cookie layer with softened ice cream – flavor of choice (I used butter pecan). Place springform pan in freezer and let ice cream set. Once hardened (1-2 hours), unlatch springform edge and remove. Frost with whipped cream or whipped cream frosting.

(I used crushed chocolate filled Oreos for the ‘dirt’ and Buttercream Frosting for the lettering)

Original recipe: http://www.mangoesandpalmtrees.com/2013/05/chocolate-chip-cookie-ice-cream-cake.html?m=1

Banana Bars

A little less good for you than straight banana bread, and a little too good to be able to eat just one. When our pan got polished off, my four year old cried. Guilt requires me to make another batch…darn.

Ingredients:

Bars-

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter

3 eggs

2 cups mashed bananas (3-4 bananas)

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

Mix butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients until well blended. Spread into a greased jelly roll pan (15x10x1). Bake at 350^F for 20-25 min. Cool and frost

Cream Cheese Frosting-

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients well and spread over cooled banana bars.

Best-Ever Cornbread

So, I live in Utah, and Utahan’s sometimes have a funny way of saying things. Case in point: I laugh every time I read this recipe, because whoever added it to our Ward Cookbook, listed one of the ingredients as ‘corn mill.’ Now, I have lived here since I was 9 1/2, but I have yet to, and hope to never, succumb to the spreading epidemic that is the Utah accent. Meal is meal…not mill. Pillow is pillow, not pullow. Any words that drive you crazy in your local-ese?

In addition to the flavorful vernacular, this recipe does produce the best cornbread I’ve ever had – ever. I’ve always liked cornbread, but the texture is often dry and a little grainy. Solution? Make it like cake – literally. I’m sure the nutritional value just skyrockets as soon as you say the word ‘cake mix,’ but it tastes too good to complain. So I won’t.

Ingredients:

1 yellow cake mix (prepared per directions on box)

1 cup corn meal

1 cup flour

2 Tbsp sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/4 cup shortening

Mix the cake mix per directions on box. Mix all other ingredients and then add to the cake mix. Bake in a greased 9×13 pan at 375^F for 35-45 min.

 

Pumpkin Cake-Donuts

I’ve got to work on my donut skills a little. I’ve decided that I’m much better at making donut holes than donuts – the smaller size is easier to cook through without burning the outside. Any suggestions on how to keep your oil at a consistent temperature while you cook? None the less, these turned out pretty tasty. We made them for end-of-the-season treats for my daughter’s soccer team, and kids don’t care if treats are beautiful, so they were the perfect audience for my first batch. Like I said…I need a little work on my skills. 🙂

INGREDIENTS

For the doughnuts:
3½ cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground cloves
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree

Canola oil or peanut oil, for frying

For the cinnamon-sugar:
½ cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

For the spiced glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
Dash of ground nutmeg
Dash of ground ginger
Dash of ground cloves
2 tbsp. milk

DIRECTIONS

• To make the dough, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl.  Whisk to blend, and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar and butter and beat until well blended.  Stir in the egg, then the egg yolks, and then the vanilla until incorporated.  Combine the buttermilk and pumpkin in a liquid measuring cup and whisk together.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Once the dough is mixed, cover and chill for at least 3 hours or until firm.  (The dough still seemed quite soft so we did an additional 30 minute chill in the freezer.)  
• On a well-floured work surface, roll or pat out the dough to a ½-inch thick round.  Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour.  Using a 2½ to 3-inch round biscuit cutter, cut out rounds of dough.  Use a smaller cutter (or a wide pastry tip) to cut a hole out of the center.  Reroll and cut the dough scraps as necessary.
• Add oil to a large saucepan or Dutch oven to a depth of about 2-3 inches.  Attach a thermometer to the side of the pan and heat the oil to 365-370˚ F.  Add the rings of dough to the hot oil so that they are in a single layer and not touching.  Fry, turning once, until both sides are golden brown and doughnuts are cooked through, about 3-4 minutes total.  Use a skimmer/strainer to remove from the oil and transfer to a paper towel-lined rack.  Bring the oil temperature back up to the target range before repeating with the next batch of doughnuts.  Use the same process for the doughnut holes, frying for a shorter time.
• To make the cinnamon-sugar, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish and whisk to blend.  When the doughnuts are just cool enough to handle, dip half of them in the cinnamon-sugar to coat completely, shaking off the excess.
• To make the spiced glaze, combine the powdered sugar and spices in a small bowl.  Add the milk and whisk to combine, until a thick glaze is formed.  If necessary, add a bit more milk to thin the glaze out.  Dip the remaining half of the doughnuts in the glaze.  Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Source: http://www.annies-eats.com/2011/09/26/pumpkin-doughnuts/

Katie’s Sugar Cookies

I have no idea who ‘Katie’ is (that’s how they are listed in my mom’s recipe cards, and I have to give credit where credit is due!) – but she sure knew how to make sugar cookies! I prefer a little bit of ‘fluff’ to my sugar cookies. Soft and perfectly puffy. Try this recipe, and never again will you buy those pre-packaged cookies, with the inch of frosting and sprinkles, from the vending machine! You will be spoiled. And you will love it. I may or may not have eaten four in a row yesterday and called it lunch.

Ingredients:

1 cup evaporated milk

1 Tbsp vinegar

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

5 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

In a separate, small bowl, add vinegar to evaporated milk and allow to sit. Blend butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together until smooth. Add milk mixture to butter mixture and blend well. Add dry ingredients until blended. Make 2-4 large balls of dough. Cover with plastic wrap and place balls of dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour to make it firm. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4″ thickness and use cookie cutters to make shapes. Bake at 425^F for 7-8 minutes. Cookies will not brown – if they start browning too much you will loose the airiness and they will instead be crunchy. Top with Buttercream Frosting.

Best-Ever Muffins

Today was a day of miracles. Miracle 1: Our car lives! Turns out a wire – a very important wire apparently – had been broken. New alternator, new wire = working car. Huzzah. Miracle 2: My baby took a nap. A real, honest-to-goodness nap. Not 5 minutes, not 2 second, but 3 hours. I got the kitchen cleaned, the floor swept, mopped and vacuumed. Miracle 3: For the first time ever, my 2 year old pooped in the potty. It took a couple of hours of, “Mom, I have to go potty…actually, I’m ok” – pretty much every five minutes. I didn’t think she’d do it. I was so sure it would end up in her panties. And then I heard a little voice from the downstairs bathroom while I fed the baby, “Mom, I’m going to do it myself. I’m going to go poo….Mom! I did it!” I had to check of course and I was so ridiculously proud. It made the six other pee accidents I had to clean up throughout the day totally worth it.

Miracle 4 didn’t even happen to me, but to my sister. They have been in desperate need of a second car for quite some time, but having school loans to pay off, they have been making do and pinching pennies so that they can get their debts taken care of first. With three kids and a pilot husband who sometimes comes home from flights at odd hours, you can imagine that pick ups and drop offs aren’t always convenient or easy for the little ones.. I was just talking to her this morning about how much she would love to have a van, but how impossible that dream seemed. And then my parents came by for dinner tonight and said that my sister’s husband had gotten a call – “Someone has anonymously donated money towards a car for you – a van. The keys are here for you, please come and sign the paperwork and take it home.” My jaw dropped. I don’t think my sister has stopped crying yet. She thought it was my parents, but they were just as surprised to hear the news. We literally have no idea who it was! There are so many things that happen in this world that are terrible and scary, but then someone goes and does something like this, and my faith in humanity is restored. There are wonderful people in this world! Whoever you are – thank you for your generosity. It couldn’t have gone to someone more deserving. I made you some muffins, but since I don’t know who you are, my kids ate them in honor of you. 🙂 I hope they grow up to be as kind.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup oil

Combine dry ingredients and make a well in the center. Combine egg, milk, and oil; add all at once to dry mixture. Stir until moistened. Fill well greased or paper-lined muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake at 400^F for 20-25 min.