#17: Strawberry Shortcakes

I was struggling to come up with the recipes I wanted to make for my first week down in Utah... it needed to be something SOMEWHAT impressive, since I KNEW the pressure would be on me to share my treats, but it also needed to be something I assumed I wouldn't be able to screw up... like the loaves I tried last Saturday. After looking up numerous recipes, and storing away quite a few, I finally decided, after buying an ENORMOUS carton of Strawberries from Costco for Codi, to try out a Better Homes and Garden's recipe I found in my mother's cookbook prior to leaving Washington. Stinkin' awesome treat, let me tell you. I'm not sure if everyone was just being nice (I have... trust issues?), but the shortcakes were gone fairly quickly... you can be the judge...

#17: Strawberry Shortcakes (as taken from Better Homes and Garden's Anyone Can Cook cookbook. It's a pretty good one... I need to go out and buy the Anyone Can Bake one...)

Ingredients:  

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup cold butter

1 egg, slightly beaten 

1/2 cup dairy sour cream

2 tablespoons milk

5 cups sliced strawberries

3 tablespoons sugar
Whipped cream (they want you to follow the Better Homes and Gardens whipped cream recipe, after making my own shortcake, I said forget it, and got some Reddi Whip)

 
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl combine flour, the 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

3. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
     - All right, for those of you new to baking, like me, I had no idea what a pastry blender was. I just assumed it was a speed on a typical blender you'd use for making smoothies. Oh no, it's a strange contraption, with a handle and wires poking out the bottom. You mash the butter up into the dry ingredients, and it essentially just combines them. My dough didn't turn out super coarse, so naturally I thought I did something wrong, but it doesn't all really come together until you add the wet ingredients, so don't panic!

4. In a small bowl combine egg, sour cream, and milk. Add to flour mixture, stirring with a fork just until moistened.

5. Drop dough into 8 mounds onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
      - These actually took more like 16 minutes to get a good, golden brown crust on them. I also used my Martha Stewart trick and added a little sugar to the top to make them slightly crunchy. Excellent idea? Oh yeah, you bet!

6. Meanwhile, combine 4 cups of the strawberries and the 3 tablespoons sugar. Using a potato masher, mash berries slightly; set aside. To serve, split shortcakes in half; fill with strawberry mixture and whipped cream. Top with remaining sliced strawberries.
     - Due to SOMEONE'S inability to portion control, I think we actually ended up slicing 6 cups of strawberries to mash, and dumped about 5 tablespoons of sugar into the bowl to sweeten them up. Definitely learned it's easier to mash large strawberries if you first cut them into halves or quarters first!

Seriously, an awesome treat for the first day of summer. Unfortunately, even after Stephen kept getting on me about taking pictures, I forgot. Here is the picture provided by Better Homes and Gardens:

 

And here is what a pastry blender looks like, since I KNOW you are all eagerly awaiting to buy your own and all:

   

Sorry about the quality, I had to copy and paste because apparently the picture uploading feature on Blogger doesn't want to work today, hmph.

#16: Chocolate Banana "Mini" Loaves

If there is one pastry or dessert I have been dying to recreate, it is Starbucks' banana chocolate chip coffee cake. You can ask around: I was always looking for an excuse to sample this stuff around the store while I worked for Starbucks. Heck, I even remember a competition that Gen and I had where she dared me to sell an entire reel of the stuff before the end of my shift, and I had it completed in 45 minutes, that's how good it was. Luckily for me, my Sandra Lee cookbook had a recipe that seemed fairly similar to the coffee cake I remember. I was a little hesitant to try it though- anything involving the word 'bread' or 'loaf' terrifies me. Although this recipe doesn't involve yeast (which... I am VERY scared of, but will tackle eventually), it does need to RISE in the oven... which technically all baked goods do, but there is just something scary about an entire loaf not rising... ah well, here is my recipe:

#16: Chocolate Banana Mini Loaves (as ADAPTED, very much so, from Sandra Lee's Bake Sale Cookbook)

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray (in my cookbook it's nonstick COKING spray... gosh, maybe it's the teacher in me, but I always get a little giggle when I find spelling issues in printed works)
3/4 cup banana chips
1 package (17.1 ounces) banana nut muffin mix
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup chocolate milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon imitation banana extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray two 6x3-inch miniature loaf pans with cooking spray; set aside.
     - Okay, this might have been the first culprit I had in the problem you'll read about later. I didn't have two miniature loaf pans, so I used one LARGER loaf pan. It wasn't huge, but nonetheless, I think it still caused some problems.

2. Place banana chips in a large zip-top plastic bag. Press out air; seal bag. Using a rolling pin, roll over the chips until crushed; set aside.
     - Culprit number two: At the grocery store I went to, they didn't have banana chips! After my issues trying to find cream of coconut, I vowed right then and there that I was NOT going all over town looking for banana chips. Side note: later that night, Stephen and I were out grabbing stuff for Fathers' Day, and we found cream of coconut at Fred Meyer. You HAVE to be kidding me!

3. In a large bowl, whisk together banana muffin mix and cocoa powder. Add chocolate milk, oil, and eggs, stirring until smooth (mixture will be thick). Stir in chocolate chips and banana chips (whoops!). Divide batter evenly among miniature loaf pans.

4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack for 20 minutes.
     - This is when I ran into my major problem. I knew I needed to adapt the recipe for the ONE larger loaf pan, but I went ahead and decided just to go with the 40 minutes, since it was the maximum time suggested. Naturally, the top of the bread looked wonderful, but when I inserted a toothpick into the center of the loaf, it literally came out with the same batter I had put into the pan. The middle was completely raw! I stuck the loaf back in the oven for an additional 15 minutes, and when I pulled it back out, the top of the loaf was burnt! After scrapping off the carcinogenic burnt bits (I am NOT getting cancer AND obese from baking, sorry folks), my mom suggested I lower the temperature and cover the top of the loaf with foil to keep the top from overbaking, and allow the heat to stay inside the loaf. Smart woman. I did just that, and it worked, but when I popped the loaf out of the pan following the 20 minutes of cooling, I discovered the SIDES of the loaf were burnt! Oye vey. I ended up just cutting off the burnt pieces and calling it good... it still TASTED great.

5. For glaze, in a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar, heavy cream, and banana extract until a glaze consistency. Drizzle over loaves. Cool completely.
    - MAKE THIS GLAZE. If you've been reading my blog, you know I'm not a HUGE proponent of glaze, but this one is necessary. It makes the loaves so much more moist and the banana flavor is awesome. The only thing I would change is the amount of heavy cream added- it isn't enough! I think I doubled the recipe to make it thin enough to be able to drizzle it over anything.

After making this recipe, I really liked it. Again, it's a little rich for my taste, and I think instead of making loaves, I would instead use this batter and make cupcakes from it... that way I'd KNOW the insides would bake properly! It's great for Saturday morning breakfast, and impressing the boyfriend's parents with, no big deal...

It's a little roughed up from my improvements, but oh so good!

#15: Butterscotch Chip Cookies

I love butterscotch. As a kid, butterscotch reminded me of my grandparents, especially my Grandpa Peters. Whenever they would come and visit, Grandpa would always take me to Shopko and let me stock up on all the hard candies I could fit into one bag (does Shopko still have a bulk candy section like they used to?). We would buy EVERYTHING- peppermints, Werther's caramels, those strange strawberry hard candies no one likes, but every old person seems to have in their homes, and of course, butterscotch. I still remember Grandpa slipping me a butterscotch in church one Sunday (probably to shut me up, let's be honest here), and now whenever I eat one, that's what I am reminded of.

All right, enough with the sentiments. Although the name of the cookies really caught my eye, the main reason I wanted to bake these cookies is because there is a woman at my church who makes these phenomenal butterscotch cookies... and I wanted to find my own recipe and outdo her. I'm not sure if mine are as good (I love them, but I'm kind of biased), and I KNOW one of my goals is to EVENTUALLY try to find the recipe for HER cookies (because dangit, they're good!), but here is my attempt at outdoing Shelly. Enjoy!

#15: Butterscotch Chip Cookies (taken from Sandra Lee's Bake Sale Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 package (18.25 ounces) yellow cake mix
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
     - You know, one day I think I'm going to have to try this parchment paper trick, just to see if it makes any difference. I will say that this cookie dough gets kind of hard to work with when you're molding it to place on the cookie sheets, but they turned out fine even without the parchment.

2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and brown sugar. Add buttermilk, butter, and egg, stirring until well mixed. Add butterscotch chips and pecans, stirring until combined.
     - I have decided, I kinda hate buttermilk. The buttermilk I was using for this recipe was left over from my red velvet whoopie pies, and the date on the carton read that it was still good for an additional day. It smelled rotten (which apparently is how buttermilk SMELLS?!) and the "curdy" looking stuff was separating, leaving behind milky water. None of us are dead from these cookies though, so... I guess buttermilk is just supposed to be disgusting?

3. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls (or use a 2-tablespoon scoop) onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches apart.
     - This was really interesting dough to work with. It was super sticky, and yet, the dough didn't want to stick together to form really nice balls on the cookie sheet; instead, it just wanted to stick to me, and the spoon, and the cookie sheet, and everything else it came in contact with. Annoying, but delicious!

4. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until set in centers. Cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes.
     - Funny story about this step: I couldn't wait five minutes to try the cookies, because seriously, these might be the best SMELLING cookies I've made, so I popped one in my mouth and burnt the crud out of my tongue. The next day I was reprimanded at the dentist office for being too impatient and not letting my food cool off before eating it because according to my hygienist, it was a pretty bad burn. I am SUCH a fat kid. 

Here they are! DELISH!

Oh yeah, and this would be a shot of the super sticky dough.

#14: Blueberry Muffins

I LOVE breakfast foods. All kinds. Pancakes, cereal, scrambled eggs, french toast, waffles... so naturally, one of my goals was to find the perfect muffin recipe. As a kid, I was deathly afraid of blueberry muffins. One Sunday, following Sunday School, I stuffed my face with at least three muffins, which now doesn't seem like very much, let's be honest. It was a hot, sticky June morning, and I remember dripping with sweat when I decided to throw those muffins right back up (I'm sorry, completely inappropriate for a baking blog, but you guys had to know where I was coming from!). ANYWAYS, needless to say, I blamed the muffins for my upset stomach, just like I spent the last 16 years running from Lucky Charms (that's another story in and of itself). Starbucks is what helped me overcome my fear of blueberries. Probably about four summers ago now, our big promotion at the store was our blueberry teas and various muffins. In order to sell the product, I had to relearn to trust the berry... and luckily I did. So much so that blueberry muffins are now one of my favorite Saturday morning treats, and this recipe might be one of the best I've found.

#14: Blueberry Muffins (as found in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, go pick it up, it's wonderful... although the pistachio mocha wedding cake terrifies me)

My Muse

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a standard 12 cup muffin pan and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside.

     - Call me crazy, but I went ahead and just used paper muffin liners in the pan, it has always worked for me!

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Working over the bowl, toss the blueberries in a fine sieve with about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the flour mixture to lightly coat; set aside the flour mixture and blueberries.

     - I loved this step. I never knew that tossing the blueberries with this mixture would help keep them from sinking to the bottoms of the muffins while they baked. Genius, and such a pretty step.

4. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Mix in the vanilla.

5. Add the reserved flour mixture, beating until just combined. Add milk, beating until just combined; do not overmix. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.

     - That milk was much needed. The batter was much more of a cookie consistency before I added the milk, so I was a little nervous that I had completely messed up the muffins. Again, this was a pretty step...

6. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. 

     - Before baking, I sprinkled a little sugar on top of them (it was a suggestion along the side of the recipe). SUCH A GOOD IDEA. It made the muffin tops sweet and crunchy... and the muffin themselves were warm and gooey... oh yum...

The only thing I'd change about these guys are the berries I used for the muffins. I LOVE my blueberries a little under-ripe and tart, but they didn't work as well in muffins. I guess I'll get the squishy ones for my next blueberry muffin rendezvous. Here are the finished muffins:

Sorry... picture wouldn't rotate, tee hee.

#12 AND #13: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies and Coconut Macaroon Brownies

I did it again. I might've bit off more than I can chew. I had been talking for weeks about how my students were having a Hawaiian Day at school the day before school got out for the summer. Traditionally, this day was known as "Jellybean Day" at Finley Elementary- it's my understanding that this USED to be our school's field day, in which the students would participate in field day activities (sack races, egg-on-a-spoon relays, etc.) and be given jellybeans for their involvement. Apparently a couple of years ago, our gym teacher opted out of this tradition (which STILL bums the kids out...), and in its place, our school's dress-up day was born. Last year the entire school participated in Hawaiian Day- kids were encouraged to dress in their finest luau gear, and snow cones were passed out during lunch. This year, however, each grade level was encouraged to take on whatever theme they wanted- so while first grade had a fiesta day, and still other grades had red, white, and blue or school spirit day, the fourth grade team decided, my goodness, why fix what ain't broke?! I went all out for Hawaiian Day (what's new, honestly?)- I bought the kids each a really neat lei (cost me a bundle, whoops), brought in Finding Nemo and Lilo and Stitch for the kids to watch, turned on an authentic Hawaiian music station from Oahu (the kids all asked why we were listening to Mexican music... classic...), and of course, put together a Hawaiian feast, complete with Hawaiian sweet rolls, pineapple spears, Maui onion chips, Cracker Jacks (not Hawaiian, but I was NOT going to turn away free food from one of my classroom moms), POG juice (passion fruit/orange/guava, AWESOME if you haven't tried it), and blue Hawaiian punch. You think that'd be enough, right? Oh no, I of course had to bake, not one treat, but TWO. Ladies and gentleman, I bring you recipes #12 and #13...

#12: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

I love these cookies. Plus, nothing screams Hawaii like Macadamia nuts, if you ask me. I even have some sweet pictures of me touring an authentic macadamia nut farm on the Big Island (if you're ever interested in seeing them... the kids weren't, hmph...). Long story short, these cookies are DELISH... and fluffy. I'm not sure how it happened, but they are airy little guys.

#12: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (found on allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. 
      - Shout out to Midge Baird: Look at me! I'm using ALMOND. You'd be so proud.

3. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate. 

4. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Could it be any easier? No, I argue it could not. NOW, my second recipe I tried was... gosh, kind of a flop. I had to adapt the following recipe because I couldn't find cream of coconut ANYWHERE in the Tri-Cities. And no, I'm not talking about coconut milk, there was a frustratingly large amount of that stuff in town. I hit SIX grocery stores attempting to find this stuff, as well as the other food I needed for my Hawaiian feast... so yes, I will be counting this recipe as #13, even if I had to completely redo it for my needs. I'm gonna give you the "official" recipe I WANTED to make... and then tell you what I ACTUALLY did...

#13: Coconut Macaroon Brownies (as ADAPTED from Sandra Lee's Bake Sale Cookbook)

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray
1 package (19.9 ounces) dark chocolate brownie mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup chocolate milk
1/3 cup miniature chocolate chips
3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cream of coconut (Dang you, cream of coconut!!)
4 egg whites
3 tablespoons cake flour
Pinch of salt


Directions:


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, stir together brownie mix, oil, eggs, and chocolate milk until combined. Stir in chocolate chips; pour mixture into the prepared baking pan.

3. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven; increase temperature to 375 degrees F.

All right, this is where I had to stop. I popped my brownies out of the oven, let them cool, and spread coconut walnut frosting over the top of them (I was determined to have some sort of coconut...). Let me continue on for those of you lucky enough to find the proper ingredients:

4. In a medium saucepan, combine coconut, cream of coconut, egg whites, cake flour, and salt; cook and stir over medium heat about 5 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in mixture reads 120 degrees F. Spoon hot coconut mixture over warm brownies.

5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes more or until done in center and coconut edges are lightly toasted. 

Here are what my baked goods ended up looking like:

And here's what the brownies SHOULD have looked like: