I did it again. I bought a bunch of bananas and let them sit there until they looked worse and worse. Tell me I’m not the only one who does that? Please? In the grand scheme of things bananas are cheap, but still…starving kids in blahblah and all that…so I always feel bad about wasting food. I cannot tell you how much I didn’t want to make banana bread, though. I don’t even really like banana bread, I much prefer my mom’s applesauce bread. But what do you make with mushy bananas besides banana bread? I searched for alternatives but didn’t find anything interesting that I had all the ingredients for or that wasn’t a million calories.

Since I was stuck with banana bread, my next thought was that I should do something to make it less banana-y.  Of course, chocolate popped right into my head.  Chocolate makes everything better.  You might know I’m kinda obsessed with marbled chocolate desserts, so I decided to do a marbled chocolate banana muffin.  It’s just more fun that way! (Also, I wanted to use the new extra large muffin tin I recently bought.)  And since my favorite muffins are the ones with streusal on top, I made a streusal using chocolate graham cracker crumbs and sprinkled it on.

I’ve never had any kind of chocolate banana bread before, so I wasn’t sure if I would like the flavor combo, but they turned out really good.  These muffins actually made me like (possibly even, dare I say it…love) banana bread for the first time ever. They are super moist and I highly recommend that you make them the night before and let them sit in an air-tight container or the fridge overnight because the flavors are even better the next day.  But I have to say, if you don’t want to deal with the marbling, double the amount of chocolate/cocoa and put it in all the batter instead of half.  I liked the chocolate parts of the muffin better!  There’s nothing wrong with the plain banana part, it’s good, but it just tastes like banana bread, everyone knows what that tastes like.  Adding the chocolate definitely elevates it beyond boring banana bread.

I did want to at least attempt to make these healthier, so I used white whole wheat flour and non-fat buttermilk.  You could make them even healthier by using egg substitute and replacing some of the butter with applesauce. You don’t really need the streusal either, but I love chocolate graham crackers and I love streusal and I think it works great on these.

Wanna know how much I like these? See those bananas in the pictures? I hid them in the pantry so they can get good and ripe and I’ll have an excuse to make some more muffins.

Marbled Chocolate Banana Muffins with Chocolate Graham Cracker Streusal

adapted from my mom’s recipe collection

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour or 1 cup whole wheat flour + 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temp.
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup nonfat or low-fat buttermilk (or nonfat milk with a tsp. of lemon juice added, let sit for at least 10 minutes before using)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/4 cup mashed bananas (2-3 bananas)
• 1.5 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate (chips or squares)
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa

Streusal

• 2 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 1/3 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs (about 3 full graham crackers)

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Add cupcake liners to a muffin tin or spray well with cooking spray.

2. Melt chocolate over medium-low heat. Set aside to cool.

3. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, mix together butter, sugar and graham cracker crumbs until crumbly. Set aside.

4. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

5. In a large mixer bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light. Add in egg.

6. Combine bananas, buttermilk and vanilla in small bowl. Add half of the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and mix, then add half of the flour mixture and mix. Repeat with remaining banana and flour mixtures until everything is combined, try not to overmix.

7. Pour half of the batter into the now empty flour bowl. This will be your regular banana bread.

8. Add the melted chocolate and cocoa to the remaining batter in your mixer bowl and mix until combined.

9. Using a spoon or small ice cream scoop, alternately add heaping spoonfuls of each batter on top of one another, swirling lightly afterward, until the muffin cup is about 3/4 full. Sprinkle with streusal.

10. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (my extra large muffins took closer to 35 minutes). Keep in pan for 10 minutes and then remove muffins to cool on a wire rack.

6 extra-large muffins or 12 regular sized muffins

Related posts:

• Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel
• Quickie: Best Bran Muffins ever?
• Low Fat Pumpkin Apple Streusal Muffins
• Gingerbread Mini-muffins

Do more:

If you like this recipe, please share it:

Next Monday, this blog will be 2 years old and since I didn’t really do anything to celebrate the anniversary last year I decided to go all out this year. So welcome to the completely redesigned Back to the Cutting Board! If you’re reading in the comfort of your feed reader, I’d love it if you’d click on through and take a look. Plus there is a reason you will want to visit, which I’ll get to soon…

Since I’ve posted quite a few recipes over the last two years, I wanted to make the site easier to browse. I cleaned up the Recipe Index and I added a new Ingredients Index if you want to search for recipes with specific ingredients. I also made an effort to simplify things. I loved my previous design, but I wanted something cleaner and simpler this time. I think the home page and sidebar were too busy before so I made an effort to pare everything down to the essentials (well, mostly anyway, minimalism is kind of against my nature, so this is as pared down as it gets for me). Plus, the site is loading much faster now after removing some plugins and sidebar items that were slowing it down pretty substantially.

But anyway, enough about that…on to the giveaway! I’ve never done one before, so I thought this was perfect time to finally do one. And while it may not be original, I thought it only appropriate to do a giveaway with some of my favorite cookbooks. I’m not formally trained and two years ago I knew very little about how to cook and all the different kinds of ingredients and foods that are out there. I certainly wouldn’t have this blog if it weren’t for my cookbooks and I wouldn’t have learned half a much as I have about cooking and baking without them. Two years ago I was too scared to make even the slightest changes to recipes, but lately I’ve noticed that I feel much more confident in my cooking and in my knowledge and techniques that I have no problem adapting recipes to my liking. One day I hope to be writing my own recipes, but for now I’m very thankful to have my cookbooks for guidance.

I’ll be doing two giveaways this week. The first is my current favorite cookbook which is Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast. This is sort of a sequel to an older Martha Stewart Everyday Food cookbook, which I also love and highly recommend: Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. The recipes in both cookbooks are simple but delicious and also relatively healthy (“only as much fat as necessary” which is a way I’ve heard some recipes described before). And I think the photography and food styling in them is also simple yet stunning. It’s a big inspiration to me when I take photos for this blog.

Today’s recipe is similar to one that is in Fresh Flavor Fast. I was planning to make that recipe, even though it had cherries which I’m not a big fan of (though I’ll admit this is mainly based on my abhorrence for cherry cough syrup and candy), but then I found another recipe on the Everyday Food website that was basically the same thing but with mixed berries, so I decided to make it instead. The recipe is extremely simple and you can easily adapt it to use cherries or any kind of berries you prefer. But I really liked the mixed berries because they taste and smell heavenly when all their flavors meld together.

With prep and cooking time, most desserts take a while to make so I especially love how fast this recipe is, you can whip it up after dinner with very little effort. There’s no baking involved, it cooks right on the stove top. This recipe has everything I love in comfort food: warmth, sweetness, soft bread and of course, a la mode! And it’s not even that bad for you, either, which is a major bonus since I’ve had very few lighter desserts that are this satisfying to eat.

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is to leave a comment telling me your favorite comfort food. I’ll be posting again on Friday on Monday (computer issue, sorry!) where I’ll announce the other cookbook I’m giving away (and it’s a big one…literally) and you’ll have another chance to enter to win one of the cookbooks. And don’t worry if you already own either, you can still enter, I’ll just send an Amazon gift certificate instead! The winners will be chosen at random (so if you comment on both posts this week, you double your chances!) and I’ll announce them here next Wednesday, June 30th. Good Luck!

Warm Berries and Cinnamon Dumplings

from Everyday Food

Ingredients

• 1 bag (16 oz.) frozen (unthawed) mixed berries (or strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, cherries, etc.)
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup plus 4 tbsp. sugar (divided)
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (divided)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk or milk

The Process

1. Combine berries and 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice and water in a large skillet (it should have a lid, if possible). Cook over medium heat until the liquid is syrupy, 11-13 minutes.

2. While the berries are cooking, combine 1/4 tsp. cinnamon and 2 tbsp. sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. In another bowl, stir together the flour, remaining 2 tbsp. sugar, remaining 1/8 tsp. cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. Combine melted butter and buttermilk and slowly add to the flour mixture, stirring just until a wet dough forms. Add a little more milk if it’s still too dry. Don’t overmix.

5. When the berries are ready, reduce the heat to medium-low. Use a tablespoon to scoop the dough on top of the simmering berries. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Repeat until all the dough is gone (about 8 spoonfuls).

6. Cover skillet with a lid or foil and simmer until the dumplings are set and dry to the touch, about 15 minutes.

Serve warm, with ice cream (if you want).

4 servings

Related posts:

• Blackberry Cobbler
• Tasty and Heart Healthy Waffles with Blackberry Syrup
• Chicken Pot Stickers (Chinese Dumplings)
• Roast Beef with Peppers, Onions and Potatoes

Do more:

If you like this recipe, please share it:

Do you ever go to the grocery store and randomly pick up something that looks so inviting or is such a good deal that you can’t pass it up, even though you don’t know what you will actually do with it? Well, that’s how I ended up with 2 cartons of giant blackberries this week. They were beautiful and they were buy one, get one free. How could you not buy those?

But then, if course, I had to find something to make with them so they wouldn’t all go to waste (although they were pretty perfect in a bowl with a little sugar sprinkled on top, too). I already posted a blackberry cobbler a while ago, so that was out. After searching around for a while, this recipe jumped out me, and for good reason! It’s extremely simple and produces a very moist and delicious cake. And since I really like the combination of lemon and blackberry, I added a lemon glaze on top (the same one from these lemon cakes). I think the glaze perfectly balances out the tartness of the blackberries as well as the cinnamon and other spices in the cake. Besides, it’s a cake and cakes are supposed to be topped with some kind of sugary concoction, right?

Here’s what I’ve been wondering, though. Is this really a cake? It reminds me more of my mom’s recipe for Applesauce Bread, especially since it has cinnamon and other spices in it. What’s the difference between a quick bread and a cake anyway? All I can think is most quick bread/muffin recipes I’ve made don’t have eggs and most cakes do. So if that’s the difference, then this is a quick bread. But who cares? Maybe it’s all just semantics. Whatever you want to call it, it’s really good and it would work just a well for breakfast as it does for dessert (believe me, I’ve been eating it for both for the past week).

The original recipe made wayyy too much, at least for a household of two (or even four), and I didn’t realize that until I had already started, so instead of making three (8 in) cakes, I wound up making one 9 in cake and some cupcakes (which I put in the freezer for later). I’ve halved the recipe so that it’s suited for either, but you can double it again if you do want to make 3 cakes worth. It will all get eaten, I promise you!

Lemon Glazed Blackberry Cake

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup buttermilk (or add a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of regular milk and let sit for about 10 minutes)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 cups fresh or thawed frozen blackberries, cut in half if large (I think the more, the better, so if you have more left, use them)

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Grease and flour a 9 in round cake pan or cupcake tins (or use cupcake liners – this should make about 12-15 cupcakes).

2. Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk. Set aside.

3. Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium bowl and set aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light.

5. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in two additions

6. Toss the blackberries with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour to coat. Mix in the blackberries into the batter and stir until evenly distributed (the batter should start looking purple, but you still want chunks of blackberries in there). Pour into the prepared pan (for cupcakes fill about 3/4 full).

7. Bake for 25-35 minutes (15-20 for cupcakes) or until a toothpick inserted near the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool completely. Pour on glaze and spread around (or not, I think it looks pretty letting the glaze drip down the sides).

Wrap well in plastic wrap or store in an air-tight container to keep it moist. This cake also freezes well.

Lemon Glaze

from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast from the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients

• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 3-4 tbsp. lemon juice

Process

1. In a small bowl, stir sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Start with 3 tbsp. of lemon juice, but it’ll probably still be too thick so add a little more until it’s easier to pour.

Related posts:

• Blackberry Cobbler
• Tasty and Heart Healthy Waffles with Blackberry Syrup
• Glazed Lemon Cakes
• Light Strawberry-Lemon Muffins

Do more:

If you like this recipe, please share it:

I have an excuse for not posting in a while: finding a good recipe is hard! This is my third attempt at a cake in as many weeks and I finally have a winner to show you guys. I could have posted a couple weeks ago when I made that spongecake that turned out to be the blandest of bland, but I just couldn’t get myself to be excited about it. (It was so bland, it wasn’t even worth the calories to me and I wound up throwing most of it away. I’ve never thrown a cake away before!) So then I found a chocolate angel food cake recipe that sounded like it would be anything but bland, but I failed. Oh, I failed hard. The cake tasted ok, but I believe the word “brick” was used by my boyfriend when he saw said cake. As in “That’s supposed be an angel food cake? It looks like a brick.” So then I went online searching for why my cake turned out to be a brick instead of a cake and I found a similar angel food cake recipe that sounded better and from that I, finally, finally, made a successful cake. Not just successful in that it doesn’t look like a brick, but successful in that it’s one of the best cakes I’ve ever had in my entire life.

And I say that a person who has never really liked angel food cake before. I like cakes that are rich, I like frosting! Even though I was interested in trying this recipe, it was mainly in a “I’m trying to watch what I eat but I still want dessert” kind of way. I didn’t really expect it to rival those rich, frosting-laden cakes that I love so much. If this was a normal cake, it would be too rich. You’d eat half and then push it away because you just couldn’t eat anymore, even though it was delicious. But since this cake is so moist and light and fluffy it perfectly balances out the rich chocolate flavor. Add macerated strawberries, sweetened, but a little tart due to the added orange juice and zest and you get a bite of perfection.

I’ll tell you though, the chocolate you use is key. It’s really really really important. I know this because the first chocolate angel food cake I made, the flat one, it only had cocoa and while it tasted ok, it didn’t have the richness that this recipe has. This recipe has cocoa plus grated chocolate and the grated chocolate makes all the difference. I wound up using 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate because that’s what I had in my pantry but I highly recommend using that because I think it adds more richness than semi-sweet chocolate would.

If this is your first angel food cake, it’s not difficult, but you just have to be very gentle and make sure you are using the correct folding technique (hint: it’s completely different from stirring). What ultimately killed my first attempt was that I folded too much and too hard and lost all the air from the whipped egg whites. It’s okay if there’s still some white streaks in there (I put a tip for how I dealt with this in the directions). I found this how-to video on folding to be incredibly helpful. Also, here’s a good guide about whipping egg whites if the whole soft peaks/firm peaks thing confuses you.

This cake just me happy. Since it’s angel food, I don’t have to feel guilty about eating it, but it also doesn’t come with that “this isn’t as good as the real thing” feeling that you get from eating most low-fat desserts. It’s perfect.

Also, if you’re looking for something to do with your egg yolks (12 is a LOT to waste!), I highly recommend this pineapple curd. I made it as the filling for that bland spongecake and it was the only redeeming thing about it. I wound up just licking off the curd and discarding the cake. It was delicious and really simple to make and you can use it for a variety of things (or you can just stand in front your refrigerator and lick it off your fingers).

Chocolate Angel Food Cake

from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup cake flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 (1 oz.) squares semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, grated
• 12 egg whites
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Process

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (F). If it does not have a removable bottom, line a 9 or 10 inch tube pan with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, cocoa and 3/4 cup of the sugar. Set aside.

3. Grate the chocolate (my beloved microplane grater really came in handy for that) into a small bowl. Stir in 3 tbsp. of the flour mixture.

4. Using an electric mixer set at low speed, beat egg whites until foamy. Increase mixer speed to medium, stir in cream of tartar and salt, and continue to beat until egg whites form soft peaks. (The eggs should look soft and still fold over on themselves when you remove the beater.) Gradually mix in the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. (The eggs will have a sheen, and they won’t fold over anymore). Don’t overbeat! I don’t think this should take more than 5-10 minutes with a stand mixer. (I always had problems whipping egg whites with my hand mixer, so it might take longer if you’re using one of those. Just make sure to stop and test the thickness of the whites every few minutes.)

5. Gently stir in the vanilla and lemon juice.

6. Very gently fold the flour mixture into the beaten egg whites, then fold in the grated chocolate, stirring just until blended. (I had problems with it not being mixed well at the bottom of the bowl, so I found it helpful to transfer about half of the mixture to the pan and then finish folding the rest.)

7. Gently scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the surface of the batter and tap the pan lightly to remove any air bubbles. Bake in center of the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes, or until the surface springs back when touched.

Cool completely and remove from pan. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and top with strawberries (below) before serving. If you have leftovers, it stores best in an airtight container to help keep it moist and fluffy.

Macerated Strawberries

from Weight Watchers: Simply Delicious Cookbook

Ingredients

• 6 cups (2 pts.) strawberries, stemmed and sliced
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tsp. orange zest

Process

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

2. Refrigerate at least one hour or overnight, stirring occasionally.

Related posts:

• Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel
• Molten Chocolate Cakes
• Recipe Round-up
• Black and White Cupcakes

Do more:

If you like this recipe, please share it:

I’ve been looking for this recipe forever. These Quaker granola bars are just about my favorite snack and I’ve been eating them my whole life. I like them because they are soft and chewy and not hard and tooth breaking like other granola bars I’ve tried. I also like the rice cereal in them because it makes them seem more like Rice Krispy treats with granola in them rather than boring old “healthy” granola bars. Healthy food isn’t inherently fun, Rice Krispy treats are always fun.

But have you noticed how expensive those granola bars are? Especially if you buy a box or two every week like I do. I’ve been on the look-out for a recipe, but haven’t found anything before now. All the recipes I saw were just granola, no rice cereal; they were hard, not chewy. That won’t do! But finally after some serious googling I found this recipe and it’s perfect. It’s exactly the same. In fact, it’s better because you know all the ingredients in it and there aren’t any preservatives and whatever else they put into pre-packaged food. Also? It’s about the simplest thing that ever was. No baking. It takes about 5 minutes to mix together and 15 minutes to firm up in the fridge.

These granola bars are so easy to make that I deviated from the original recipe to recreate my favorites: peanut butter/chocolate chip, s’more, and oatmeal raisin. There are endless possibilities for add-ins to these granola bars, so you can create your own favorite version.

Each recipe makes enough granola to fill a 9×13 inch pan, about 18 bars. Since I wanted to make all three kinds (and don’t have room to store 54 bars), I halved the recipes and made them in 9×5 inch loaf pans. I found these to be perfect as I could just cut straight across and get perfect sized bars, 6-8 depending on how wide you want them. I found it easier to remove the whole slab of granola from the pan first (run a knife around the sides and turn it upside-down on your counter and it should come out pretty easily) and then slice it.

I cut out strips of parchment and wrapped them up individually, which on second thought is pretty wasteful, but it looks cute if you wanted to give a bunch of these away as gifts or wrap them for your kid’s school lunch. Otherwise store in layers, in an airtight container with a sheet of wax/parchment between each layer.

Note about Granola: I had a really hard time finding plain granola. Maybe I wasn’t looking in the right place? I don’t know, I’ve never bought granola before. I wound up using this granola cereal because it was the only thing I could find at my grocery store. I liked it but it has a lot more fat/calories than I would have thought so I may buy this low-fat version for next time. The original recipe recommends this granola. I honestly don’t know if there’s a difference between granola and granola cereal. I’m open to granola recommendations if you have them!

Update: I’ve started making my own granola for the granola bars instead of trying to find it in the grocery store. I especially like this recipe for low-fat granola. I don’t put in all the nuts/seeds but you could leave them in if you like that kind of stuff in your granola bars.

Peanut Butter/Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars

adapted from Rachel Ray

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cups plain granola
• 1 cup rice cereal (Rice Krispies, etc.)
• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup peanut butter chips

Process

1. Combine honey and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in brown sugar after butter starts to melt.

2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

3. Add the granola and rice cereal into the saucepan and fold them into the sauce until evenly coated.

4. Spread the mixture into a 9×13 inch ungreased baking pan and press firmly with a spatula to evenly fill. Sprinkle the chocolate and peanut butter chips onto the top of the granola and gently press them down.

5. Put the pan in the refrigerator until cooled and firm, about 15 minutes, then cut into bars.

18 servings

S’more Chewy Granola Bars

adapted from Rachel Ray

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cups plain granola
• 1 cup rice cereal (Rice Krispies, etc.)
• 2 tbsp. graham cracker crumbs (optional)
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Process

1. Combine honey and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in brown sugar after butter starts to melt.

2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

3. Add the granola, rice cereal and graham cracker crumbs into the saucepan and fold them into the sauce until evenly coated. Very gently fold in the marshmallows.

4. Spread the mixture into a 9×13 inch ungreased baking pan and press firmly with a spatula to evenly fill. Sprinkle the chocolate chips onto the top of the granola and gently press them down.

5. Put the pan in the refrigerator until cooled and firm, about 15 minutes, then cut into bars.

18 servings

Oatmeal Raisin Chewy Granola Bars

adapted from Rachel Ray

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 cups plain granola
• 1 cup rice cereal (Rice Krispies, etc.)
• 1/2 cup raisins

Process

1. Combine honey and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon after the butter starts to melt.

2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

3. Add the granola, rice cereal and raisins into the saucepan and fold them into the sauce until evenly coated.

4. Spread the mixture into a 9×13 inch ungreased baking pan and press firmly with a spatula to evenly fill.

5. Put the pan in the refrigerator until cooled and firm, about 15 minutes, then cut into bars.

18 servings

Related posts:

• Giveaway Winners! (and my favorite recipes)
• Sugar and Spice Cookies
• Oatmeal Cream Pies
• Molten Chocolate Cakes

Do more:

If you like this recipe, please share it:

It’s been a while since I posted a dessert here, mainly because I’ve been trying to stay away from things like that, but also because I haven’t found anything that interested me. But since it’s the first week of Spring, I decided I wanted to make a dessert that was light and fruity, nothing chocolate or heavy (which is my usual preference for desserts). So when I was flipping though my beloved Cooking Light cookbook, this recipe jumped right out at me.

But I have a confession: I haven’t made many layer cakes before. Most of the ones I’ve tried have been unmitigated disasters with uneven and/or rounded layers and frosting catastrophes aplenty. So I was bracing myself for another un-perfect cake, but it turns out I didn’t need to worry. This cake should be called “Baby’s First Layer Cake”. Seriously, it’s really easy to make and I didn’t have any of the problems I normally have. For one, the tops didn’t puff up and get rounded like many cakes I’ve baked (I know I could slice them off, but let’s just say I’m not too good with the cutting). Both layers were perfectly flat. I also used a trick I picked up somewhere about using my kitchen scale to weigh each pan after I poured in the batter, that way I could get exactly equal sized layers.

The frosting was also very easy to make. Since it’s mostly cream cheese, you don’t have to worry about trying to whip egg whites or butter into submission like most of the frostings I’ve had problems with. You just need to make sure the cream cheese is very cold or else the frosting could turn out too thin. When I first attempted frosting the cake, I was having some trouble since it was a bit crumbly and the top and sides were tearing when I tried to spread it on but then I remembered another trick (I love the internet!) and froze both cake layers for about 30 minutes. After that, frosting them was a snap.

I’m glad I made this cake because it is delicious and as an added bonus I seem to have finally found a cake that my boyfriend actually likes. I think a lot of it has to do with the lemony cream cheese frosting, which is undoubtedly the best part. But the cake is extremely moist and fluffy and has a very light lemony taste that takes it over the top from being a boring white cake. It really is a perfect spring or summer cake. I can imagine it being served with tea, or lemonade, of course! I can also see it being a refreshing, light ending to a heavy ham-laden Easter dinner.

Lemonade Layer Cake

from Cooking Light Complete Cookbook

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 6 tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 tbsp. grated lemon rind
• 3 tbsp. thawed lemonade concentrate
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 cups fat-free or low fat buttermilk

Frosting:

• 2 tbsp. butter, softened
• 2 tsp. grated lemon rind
• 2 tsp. thawed lemonade concentrate
• 1 (8 oz.) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, very cold (if it’s softened the frosting will be too thin)
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Coat 2 (9 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.

2. Combine sugar, butter, lemon rind, lemonade concentrate and vanilla in a large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed until well blended, about 5 minutes.

3. Add eggs and egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add half of the flour mixture to the mixer bowl and beat well.

5. Add all the buttermilk and beat again. Then beat in the remaining flour.

6. Pour batter into the prepared pans evenly. I weighed both pans on my kitchen scale to make sure they have the about same amount in each. Sharply tap pans once on the counter to remove any air bubbles.

7. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

8. While the cake is cooking, start preparing the frosting. Place butter, lemon rind, lemonade concentrate, vanilla and cream cheese in a large mixer bowl and beat at high speed until fluffy.

9. Add powdered sugar and beat at low speed just until blended. Don’t overbeat!

10. Chill in refrigerator for at least an 1 hour.

11. When cake is completely cooked and the frosting has been chilled, spread 1/2 cup of frosting over one cake layer. Top with the other layer and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides. To have a much easier time frosting the cake, I recommend putting the completely cooled layers in the freezer for about half an hour first.

Serve chilled or at room temperature. Store cake, loosely covered, in the refrigerator.

Related posts:

• Recipe Round-up
• Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel
• Lemon Glazed Blackberry Cake
• Molten Chocolate Cakes

Do more:

If you like this recipe, please share it:

I’m doing Project 365 this year, which is a challenge to take a picture every single day for a full year. It’s a month in and I’m already starting to run out of ideas of what to take pictures of. Last week I was sitting in my kitchen trying to come up with something, but my mind kept wandering to dessert (this is not unusual). Then I realized: I should take a picture of dessert! Perfect.

This is my favorite go-to snack. I always have all the ingredients in my pantry and when I’m having a chocolate craving I can make a couple of these in 5 minutes, which is much faster (and healthier) than making up a batch of cookies or brownies. It’s not a mind-blowing dessert or anything, but when I posted this picture on flickr a lot of people commented saying how good it looked, so I decided I should share it with all my wonderful foodblog readers as well! Because maybe you guys have never thought to add peanut butter to s’mores? Seriously, peanut butter makes everything better.

I love chocolate graham crackers so that’s what I’ve been using lately, but I’ve made these a million times with regular graham crackers and they’re just as good. Sometimes I don’t even sandwich them, just eating a single cracker with toasted marshmallows on top. Sometimes I’ll mix it up and put chocolate chips and marshmallows together on one cracker. Have fun with them!

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter S’mores

Ingredients

• Chocolate or Honey graham crackers
• Mini Marshmallows
• Chocolate chips
• Peanut Butter

Process

1. Turn the broiler in your oven on.

2. Break graham cracker into two. Spread a thin layer of peanut butter over each piece. (Seriously, you don’t want too much or it’s overpowering.)

3. Top one side with marshmallows. Top the other side with chocolate chips (don’t go overboard with these either because the melted chocolate gushes out when you smush the sides together, I usually do about 4-5 chips). Repeat with the rest of your graham crackers.

4. Place on a foil lined baking sheet and put in the middle shelf of your oven. Stay by the oven and check every 30 seconds or so until the tops of the marshmallows are browned. Remove quickly and immediately smush the two sides of each cracker together.

Make sure to serve with a tall glass of milk!

Related posts:

• Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies
• Quickie: Whoopie Pies
• Molten Chocolate Cakes
• No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Do more:

If you like this recipe, please share it:

Well, it’s January and you know what that means. It’s time for my annual “I’m going to completely change my lifestyle this year…I swear…for real this time.” Sigh. Honestly, I wasn’t really going to bother until Lori at RecipeGirl.com started her “Ten in 10″ Challenge. What I like about it is that it’s not about weightloss, it’s just about trying to become more healthy in whatever way you define that.

I like food. I like to eat food. I even like to take pictures of the food I eat because I just like it that much. So going on a diet doesn’t appeal to me. Maybe it’s something I can do for a few weeks but eventually I get, you know, hungry. So my goal for the next 10 weeks is not another diet, but just be healthier (more fruits/veg, whole grains, etc.) and more active. I did that this past summer/fall and lost about 15 lbs. But if you’ve been reading my blog since November you know I, uh, indulged a bit over the holidays, so now I just want to get back on track and hopefully lose another 15 lbs.

What that means for this little blog is that I will be posting lower fat/healthier recipes for the next ten weeks, though you can be sure that everything I post will still be good. Eating healthier is not an excuse to eat bland, boring food! And because I’m such a sugar addict, I’m sure I’ll still be posting some desserts, too. My Cooking Light book has some excellent looking desserts I’ve been wanting to try out! And speaking of good and relatively healthy desserts, that is exactly why I love today’s recipe (let’s ignore the ice cream part for right now, ok?).

Apple Crisp is one of my favorite desserts ever, but before now I haven’t made it for two reasons: 1. Brandon hates it. (How do I have a boyfriend who hates cake AND apple crisp!!) 2. It’s best eaten right away. Day old, soggy, apple crisp just doesn’t do it for me. Even if you re-heat it’s never as crispy and fresh as when you first pull it out the oven.

A few weeks ago it snowed A LOT here, about 2 feet, which is the most snow I’ve ever seen. Cold weather makes me want a warm dessert so the first thing I thought of was Apple Crisp. I couldn’t go to the grocery store (I don’t like driving the rain, so driving in the snow is never going to happen), but luckily you don’t need tons of ingredients to make apple crisp. In fact, you can pretty much put whatever you like in there. I had a bunch of cranberries leftover from Thanksgiving so I decided to throw those in there, too. The tartness of the cranberries are a great contrast to a sweeter apple like a honeycrisp. I also made a version with pomegranate seeds which I liked the taste of, but not the hardness of the seeds (too much likes nuts, which I don’t like).

But I still had the problem of the soggy left overs since Brandon wouldn’t be eating any. That’s when I remembered my adorable little ramekins. I already use them to make single servings of Molten Chocolate Cake and Chicken Pot Pie, so I figured they’d be perfect for a single serving of Apple Crisp, too. Honestly, if you don’t have any ramekins, I highly recommend you pick some up. (You don’t have to spend a lot, mine are from Target and they cost about $2 each.) I originally got them because I thought they would be cute for food photography, but they are really useful. Most especially if you are on a diet, because they have built-in portion control! I love being able to make myself this small indulgence in about 20 minutes with a minimum of guilt. I can’t say that for most other desserts.

The only “problem” (if you can call it that) with Apple Crisp is that it needs ice cream. I mean, it doesn’t need ice cream, but to me ice cream is an important component to the dessert. Since there was a pile of snow against the sliding glass door in the kitchen, it was a no brainer to make Snow Ice Cream. All I had to do was stick a big bowl out the door and scoop up a bunch of snow (while it was falling and still fresh and untouched). My dad taught me to make Snow Ice Cream when we lived in Tennessee and I’ve loved it ever since. It’s kind of a trial and error thing to make and you’re never going to get the creaminess of real ice cream (more like a sno cone), but I love the homemade quality of it. And I think snow is beautiful and magical, so eating it almost feels like a delicacy.

Cranberry and Apple Crisp

adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
(per serving – 10 oz. ramekin)

• 1 small apple or 2/3 large apple, peeled, cored and chopped (Use a sweet apple like honeycrisp, golden delicious, gala, etc. No granny smiths!)
• 5-10 fresh cranberries (thawed if frozen)
• 1 tbsp. orange juice (substitutions: apple juice or water)
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp. butter
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

2. Mix the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Mix in butter with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Put half of the apples in layer in the bottom ramekin, top with cranberries and then the rest of the apples. Pour the juice over the fruit.

4. Top with sugar mixture.

5. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the apples are tender and bubbling and the topping is golden.

Snow Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 3-4 quarts fresh snow
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Milk

Process

1. In a large bowl whisk together cream, sugar and vanilla until smooth.

2. Fill another large bowl with snow. Pour about half into the bowl of cream and sugar. Carefully fold in the snow. Don’t stir and whisk vigorously, just work through the bowl folding the snow into the cream until mixed together. Keep adding in the rest of the snow a little bit at a time until it’s all mixed. Add milk, a tablespoon or two at time, if it’s too dry, add more snow if it’s too wet.

3. Scoop out and serve immediately.

2-4 servings

Related posts:

• Individual Chicken Pot Pies
• Pies, Pies, Pies
• Low Fat Pumpkin Apple Streusal Muffins
• Tandoori Chicken Tenders

Do more:

If you like this recipe, please share it:

I may have gone a bit cookie crazy. Besides my Peppermint Fudge Pinwheels, I have two more cookie recipes to share. Well, it’s more like one recipe and one technique, but I’ll get to that.

I’ve never been able to find a sugar cookie that I actually like. I’ve tried about a million and they all just taste blah to me. But I think that’s just the kind of person I am. Brandon told me the other day that I have tendency to put too much flavoring in the things I bake and that may be true, but I just want something that tastes like…something. I hate blah food. Even something that has too much flavor is better than something that doesn’t have any. But I think this is just that age old debate of people who like vanilla ice cream and people who like chocolate. Of course I choose chocolate! The only time I’ll eat vanilla ice cream is if it’s covered in fudge or caramel.

Anyway, I’m not sure I even have a point other than to say that this desire for flavor translates into everything I cook and share on this blog. I make a lot of stuff that I don’t share here because it’s boring or basic. I always try to find recipes that are fun (at least to me). Which leads me to these totally adorable Christmas Tree Cookies. They are fun and easy to make and did I mention how adorable they are? But that’s not even the best part of them. The original recipe was for plain ol’ sugar cookies, but of course I modified them! The best part is that they taste just like cinnamon graham crackers, which are my absolute favorite. And my boyfriend, Mr. You-put-too-much flavoring, actually said that these were perfect! And he hates cinnamon, so if he likes these cookies, anyone will.

I bet these cookies would be fun to make if you have kids. You divide the dough into three rolls which you cover in green sugar, then after they’ve chilled for a while, you just sliced them up and bake. I think kids would definitely have fun assembling the little trees; I did and I’m almost 30 years old! These would be really festive and pretty for a party and they keep well in an air-tight container. As with all Betty Crocker cookies I’ve made (or maybe it’s just a personal preference?) I think these taste better the day after you bake them.

The other kind of cookies I made are technically called Stained Glass cookies, but I’m not sure that’s really accurate, especially after I modified them. I have seen recipes for stained glass cookies that actually have a little transparent window of sugar in them and these are not like those at all. These are just your basic sugar cookie recipe, but you divide up the dough and color parts of it with food coloring.

You are supposed to cut out shapes with cookie cutters in the uncolored dough and then cut up the colored doughs into little squares and arrange them on top of the uncolored cut-outs so that it looks like a stained glass window. But OH MY GOD, that is tedious. Seriously, I did about 3 cookies like that and I was done. It took forever and the colored dough kept getting too soft so I had to keep freezing it every 5 minutes. I was about ready to shoot someone and that is not the attitude you should have when making Christmas cookies! It’s supposed to be fun, not mind-numbing. So I pretty much just gave up on the whole “stained glass” thing and just cut out circles and whatever else I wanted. Then I took the colored doughs and cut them with cookie cutters and added more little details. It was much more fun when I could just do what I wanted to.

Despite all that work, the cookies that came out were pretty but they were blah. Just about the blandest sugar cookies I’ve ever tasted: they weren’t even that sweet! So I won’t be posting that recipe, but the technique is still interesting and fun (as long as you do what you want and don’t try to kill yourself being “perfect”), and it should work with your favorite sugar cookie recipe.

Christmas Tree Cookies

adapted from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1-2 bottles of green sugar (1 was sufficient, but I wished I had a little extra to fill in some “bald” spots)

Icing*

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3-6 tbsp. half and half (or however much you need to get it to spreading consistency, add a little at a time)

*Note: I cheated and bought icing at the store instead.

Process

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light. Mix in eggs and vanilla.

2. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon and salt. Mix into butter mixture.

3. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour.

4. Take one half and mold into a 14 inch long roll. Take the other half and remove 1/3 of it. Roll both pieces 14 inches long.

5. Pour out the green sugar on a large piece of wax paper or parchment and roll all three pieces back and forth until they are completely covered in sugar. Chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours or until firm enough to slice.

6. Heat oven to 400 degrees (F).

7. Take out one of the rolls and cut it into 1/4 inch slices. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet about 1/2 inch apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light brown around the edges. Immediately remove from pan and place on a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining rolls/slices.

8. Once all the cookies are cooled make your icing. Stack a large, medium and small cookie together with the icing and top with candy or frosting of your choice.

Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies

Related posts:

• Chocolate-Filled Mexican Wedding Cookies
• No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
• Peppermint Fudge Pinwheels
• Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies

Do more:

If you like this recipe, please share it:

Christmas is my favorite time of year and one of the main reasons for that is all the baking I get to do. Even when I didn’t cook much, I’ve always liked to bake and cookies are just about my favorite thing to make. Plus this time of year is the only time besides my birthday and Thanksgiving that I let myself make/eat whatever I want and I don’t feel guilty about it. Diets are what January is for. (I’ve already signed up for Recipe Girl’s Ten in ’10 challenge!) So expect a bunch of sweet recipes around here for the next few weeks because I’m in the baking mood.

I’m obviously obsessed with black and white desserts, so I knew I had to make these as soon as I saw them. The original recipe isn’t very christmas-y, but that was easily remedied with the addition of some peppermint extract to the chocolate cookie dough AND to the fudge frosting in the middle. Don’t worry though, these cookies aren’t crazy peppermint-y. The vanilla part of the cookie balances out the peppermint and makes it much more subtle.

The cookie part is thick, it’s very much like a shortbread (these don’t rise at all). I made a note about thickness in the directions below. You should slice them thinner if you want a crispier cookie, but they also burn more easily, so you’ll have to watch them closely when baking. I made mine kind of thick, which is how I like them. They also don’t have to be made into sandwiches, but I thought they were a bit plain without the fudge in the middle. The fudge filling is pretty much the exact consistency of the filling of an oreo.

The only downside to these cookies are that you have to refrigerate the dough for 9 hours. Who wants to wait that long for cookies?? They are worth the wait, though. The recipe is super easy to mix up, and rolling everything out isn’t too complicated, so you could make this after dinner, refrigerate the dough roll overnight and slice and bake the next day. Or you could even freeze the dough roll and take it out whenever you are ready to bake. I actually thought these tasted better the day after I baked them, so if you can wait 2 days (I couldn’t) these are quite the treat. These would be great cookies to take to a party or give as a gift because they are so pretty and they keep well.

If peppermint isn’t your thing I bet these would be really good with orange extract instead. Or of course you could just use plain vanilla, but I think they’d be a bit bland if there wasn’t any kind of flavoring.

Peppermint Fudge Pinwheels

adapted from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups cake flour (all purpose is fine if you don’t have cake flour)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp. peppermint extract

Peppermint Fudge Filling

• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 oz. bittersweet/unsweet chocolate
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

Process

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla.

2. Mix in flour and salt.

3. Remove half the dough, wrap in plastic or wax paper. Place in refrigerator to chill.

4. Mix cocoa and peppermint extract into the remaining dough. Wrap in plastic or wax paper. Place in refrigerator to chill with vanilla dough for 1 hour.

5. On a lightly floured piece of wax paper, roll vanilla dough into a 13×9 inch rectangle about 3/16 inch thick. Carefully lift the wax paper and put it on a cookie sheet. Chill in the freezer or fridge for a few minutes.*

*Note: You don’t have to do this, but I think freezing it for a few minutes makes it easier to roll up.

6. Meanwhile, on a lightly floured piece of wax paper roll out the chocolate dough into a 13×8 inch rectangle about 3/16 inch thick. Chill for a couple minutes if necessary.

7. Place vanilla dough on the counter, carefully flip over the chocolate dough and lay it flat on top of the vanilla dough, leaving about 1/4 inch gap on the right side. Peel the wax paper off the chocolate dough. Trim edges so that they are smooth and even on all sides.

8. Starting from the right side, carefully roll up the dough. If it starts to crack, unroll and let warm up for a minute, then continue rolling up tightly into a long roll/log. Wrap in plastic or wax paper and refrigerate for 8 hours.

9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F). Cut roll into slices about 1/8 inch thick** and place each slice on a parchment/silpat lined cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until they start to brown around the edges. Immediately remove from pan and place on cooling rack.

**Note: These cookies don’t rise at all, so the thickness you cut is as thick as they get. I cut mine a bit thicker because I noticed the thinner ones were burning around the edges more easily. But since they are sandwich cookies, you don’t want them to be too thick (definitely keep them 1/4″ or less). If you prefer a crispier cookie (I don’t), you may want to cut them 1/8″ and just watch them really carefully while baking so that you can take them out as soon as they start browning.

While the cookies are cooling, make the filling:

1. Melt shortening and chocolate in a small pan over medium-low heat.

2. Add in milk, sugar and salt.

3. Heat to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally. Boil 1 minute without stirring.

4. Place pan in a bowl of ice water and beat until frosting is thick. Stir in peppermint extract.

5. Spread frosting on the inside of a cookie and press another cookie on top to make a sandwich.

Makes about 4 dozen

Related posts:

• Christmas Cookies!
• Black and White Cake Cookies

Do more:

If you like this recipe, please share it: