Lemon Bread

I was just flipping through my Better Homes and Gardens book one night and thought this would make a fun side for dinner sometime. I really enjoyed it, but I chose not to make the optional sugar glaze for on top although I'm sure it would have been fantastic. I wasn't sure if I had enough lemon juice and figured it wouldn't hurt us to leave out the additional sugar.



I was also excited that the recipe called for walnuts because I have a huge bag of fabulous walnuts from my grandparent's tree. I've been putting them in everything and really loving them!

Lemon Bread

1 3/4 C flour
3/4 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1 C milk
1/4 C cooking oil
2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 C chopped walnuts
2 Tbsp lemon juice (optional)
1 Tbsp sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of pan; set aside. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar baking powder, and salt. Make a well in center of mixture; set aside.

2. In another medium bowl combine the egg, milk, oil, lemon peel, and lemon juice. Add egg mixture to flour mixture all at once. Stir just until moistened, batter should be lumpy. Fold in nuts and spoon batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. If desired, in a small bowl stir together the 2 Tbsp lemon juice with 1 Tbsp sugar. While bread is still in the pan, brush lemon sugar over the top of the loaf. Allow to cool.
Wrap and store overnight before serving.

Hot Chocolate Shortbread

I think I was in the new apartment less than 24 hours before I got the urge to bake. I held off for a few days and now I’m ready to go!

I came across this recipe a while back in a magazine, using hot chocolate in a recipe got my attention. I tore it out and have been dying to try it for a while. I’m glad I finally got to it because it was a fun way to use my peanut butter hot chocolate. And now that we live where it is hot, hot chocolate doesn’t seem quite so exciting. But baking with the hot oven still does!






Hot Chocolate Shortbread
Nonstick cooking spray
2 C flour
1/3 C instant hot cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt
12 Tbsp softened butter
½ C sugar
1 egg
Frosting
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9x13 inch pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
2. Combine flour, hot cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and beat well. Gradually add the flour mixture until just combined, scraping sides.
3. Spread the dough evenly in the prepared pan. Bake until firm to the touch, 30-35 minutes. Lift foil and shortbread cookie from pan and allow to cool. Once cooled, frost.

Chocolate Powdered Sugar Icing
1 C powdered sugar
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp vanilla
Milk
1. In a small bowl combine powdered sugar with cocoa powder. Add vanilla and 1 Tbsp of milk. Stir in additional milk one tsp at a time until it has reached drizzling consistency.
I really enjoyed this dessert. The shortbread was just kind of fun and different. And the frosting seriously just melts in your mouth; I could eat this stuff all day! If you don’t feel like baking anything, you could so make this frosting and use it as a dip for fruit or store bough cookies or grahams. Heck, you could even eat it by the spoonfuls. Well, I could!

The post where Cherie takes over!

While Amber is relocating she trusted me to update the baking blog! So when my family asked for "something chocolate" for dessert I knew I had to deliver, you know, for the blog. So I flipped open my Paula Deen Chocolate magazine. I knew I had found a winner when I finally found a recipe that I already had the ingredients for (yes, lots of butter!). Well mostly, I was missing the Snickers bars but we didn't notice.

So do you remember some time ago Amber told us not every recipe was going to turn out? Well sometimes mine turn out looking like this:

Thankfully, it still tasted like this (minus the candy bar):

What I think happened is that when the time was up and the cake was still not done I gave it 5 more minutes, then a few more. I was so worried about over cooking the cake that I took it out and poured the frosting on. Then after consulting with my sous chef (otherwise known as the guy on the couch watching baseball but has an opinion on eating) I put the whole frosted cake back into the oven. Hey, I'm not proud. But this cake is so worth it!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Chocolate Frosting, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9-inch baking pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil.

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.

In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until combined. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 22 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Spread chocolate frosting over hot cake. Let cool completely. Cut into squares and serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Chocolate Frosting:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 (2.07-ounce) candy bars cut into 1/2-inch pieces (recommended: Snickers)

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add cocoa, buttermilk and 1 cup confectioners' sugar. Stir in candy bars and allow to melt. Stir in remaining confectioners' sugar and immediately spread over hot cake.

Orange Sorbet

I actually had no intentions on making anything for a while since I ate about a million desserts on my trip (many of them awesome!) I figured I should take it easy for a while. And then there is the fact that we're in the middle of a move and won't be settled in to our new place for over a week.
But anyway, I came across this simple recipe and since we had the stuff and we need to use it up anyway, I went ahead and made it. I loved the consistency and it was really sweet and rich-just how I like it!



Orange Sorbet

1 can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 can drained mandarin oranges (11 oz)
1 cup water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 C powdered sugar

Blend all ingredients in blender for about 20 seconds. Put into a container and freeze for 3-4 hours. Blend again until smooth and freeze for 5-6 hours. Serve and enjoy!

And while I was doing this, Dillon was chasing his binkie around the kitchen. And as I blog this right now, he is pulling on my shirt and yanking my hair. It is a wonder I can get anything done! But he's so cute!