Lemon Buttercream Frosting

In the IB program, I have to do something called 'CAS' (creatvity, action, service), and I have to make a project involving at least two of those categories. It took awhile, but eventually I found the perfect CAS project for me: a cupcake business. I had been wanting to start a cupcake business before, but I didn't have the time. Now, since it's with CAS, I have to make time! Today I had my second order, involving vanilla cupcakes with lemon frosting. Never having made lemon frosting before, I debated over whether to use the recipe in my cupcake book or one I found on bettycrocker.com. I went with the one online because it seemed more lemon-y, and took less ingredients.

I started out making a half recipe, but it only covered 9 of my cupcakes; I had to make more. The flavor turned out really good! Sweet and lemony. I didn't eat a cupcake with the frosting on it, but I'm sure it was yummy!

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups butter or margarine, softened

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

3 tablespoons lemon juice

3 cups powdered sugar

milk

Directions:

Beat butter, lemon peel and most of the lemon juice in a medium bowl on medium speed for 30 seconds. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Add more lemon juice to taste. Add milk 1/2 teaspoon at a time until reaches piping consistency. Beat 2 to 3 minutes longer or until light and fluffy.

Recipe adapted from: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/lemon-buttercream-frosting/af150e16-924b-49f2-aa55-2984585f2af0

Crazy Bread

I love crazy bread from Little Caesar's, it's so yummy! Of course, in Russia there's no Little Caesar's to get crazy bread from, so we have to make it ourselves (which actually isn't hard). This copy cat recipe doesn't taste exactly like Little Caesar's crazy bread, but it does taste good. We always use homemade pizza dough, and estimate the amounts, so feel free to change the recipe to taste!

Copy Cat Little Caesar's Crazy Bread

Ingredients:

one ten-ounce tube Pillsbury pizza dough (or use any other pizza dough)

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter

1 teaspoon garlic salt (if unavailable, combine garlic powder and salt)

grated parmesan cheese for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425ºF (if using homemade pizza dough, the temperature you would cook your pizza at).

Unroll dough onto cutting board (roll homemade pizza dough about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick). Cut dough into desired sized pieces.

Being careful not to stretch the dough, place the crazy bread on a lightly greased baking sheet, and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until your dough is completely cooked but still soft, and the tops are golden brown.

While the bread is baking, melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove. Then add garlic salt and stir until it dissolves.

Remove the browned crazy bread from the oven and brush the butter mixture on the tops using a pastry brush or spoon.

Sprinkle a generous amout of parmesan cheese over each.

Recipe adapted from: http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/little-caesars-crazy-bread-recipe.html

Apple Blonde Brownies

These brownies turned out "chewy-gooey", to quote my dad. I told him it was the same magic as the brown butter salted caramel snickerdoodles...the caramels. (We did use the caramel bits.) And if you want a "chewy-gooey" fall recipe that takes less effort than the snickerdoodles, this is the recipe. My mom helped me make this very sweet fall dessert. We used some kind of red apple instead of Granny Smith apples, which tasted very good, but I'm sure contributed to the sweetness along with the caramel bits. You could also add some extra cinnamon by using cinnamon sugar for sprinkling at the end instead of just plain sugar.

Apple Blonde Brownies

Originally from gourmet mom on the go

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Serves: 16

Recipe from:

http://www.lemonsforlulu.com/2012/10/04/caramel-apple-brownies/

http://www.gourmetmomonthego.com/2009/09/apple-brownies.html

Apple-Maple French Toast

What do I do on a cold fall morning when I have extra time? Cook of course. I think everyone likes it when I have extra time! This morning I made apple-maple French toast from marthastewart.com. It was perfect for fall. I highly recommend using real maple syrup for a full, great flavor.

Since only Elena and I were here this morning, I halved the recipe, which worked fine. I used slices of French bread about 3/4 inches thick each. I ended up with a little extra egg, so I poured it into the pan and cooked it like a pancake. It turned out to be the best (albeit, one of the only) egg pancakes I've ever eaten! I don't what made it so good—the cinnamon, the butter it was fried in, or the amout of milk in it. It was probably all three! (Sorry, I ate it before I could take a picture.)

I served the French toast in a bowl so that it could 'bathe' in the syrup. I think it was a good choice!

Elena actually slept through the whole cooking-and-eating process, and I got tired of waiting for her, sooooo...I brought her breakfast in bed. One condition though: I had to take her picture.

She looks happy.

You can also eat these like little pizzas, but it's a little messy if you get a lot of syrup!

Apple-Maple French Toast

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ground cinnamon

6 slices bread

2 tablespoons butter, plus more for serving

3 apples, peeled and sliced

2 tablespoons water

1/2 cup maple syrup

Directions:

1. Whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla, and a pinch of ground cinnamon in a wide-bottomed bowl. Soak peices about a minute on each side.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter, and add apples, stirring to coat until starting to caramelize. Add the water, cooking until water has evaporated and apples are tender, about 4 minutes.

3. Pour in the maple syrup and a dash of ground cinnamon; simmer for a minute to combine.

4. In a large, heated nonstick skillet, melt about 1 tablespoon butter and sauté the soaked bread until golden brown on each side, about 4 minutes. Place French toast in a bowl and top with apple-maple mixture, plus more butter if you'd like!

Recipe from: http://www.marthastewart.com/348627/apple-maple-french-toast?czone=food/produce-guide-cnt/summer-produce-recipes&gallery=275039&slide=348627&center=%3Fxsc%3Dsoc_pin_applemaplefrenchtoast_08152013&276955&crlt.pid=camp.RmRUoaqwHoQv

Peanut Butter Sauce

This peanut butter sauce recipe is easy and good; it is a little sweet. It makes a lot, but the recipe isn't difficult to halve. It tastes very good on vanilla ice cream or on a brownie mug cake.

Peanut Butter Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup creamy peanut butter (you could use crunchy if you like)

3 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk (any milk)

Instructions:

1. Combine in a small saucepan and heat until sugar is dissolved and peanut butter is melted. Mixture should be smooth!

2. Remove from heat, serve over your ice cream warm or let it cool and use it cold, the choice is yours.

3. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container. (When you go to reheat this, you might need to splash it with a little milk to get it smooth and creamy again.)

Recipe from: http://www.foodthoughtsofachefwannabe.com/2013/07/homemade-vanilla-ice-cream-with-peanut.html

Mug Brownies

Last night I made something a little different. I discovered mug cakes about a year ago. You can probably guess that mug cakes are made in mugs. The great thing about them is that they can range from simple to decadent, there are many options, and they make just one serving each.

This recipe from love fromtheoven is pretty good. It makes a dense brownie, as opposed to a cake. I have changed the original recipe here to make the process easier, but you can find the original on the link below. The first time I made this, I put a marshmallow on top for the last few seconds of microwaving...nice and gooey. This time I put homemade peanut butter sauce on afterwards...mmm peanut butter and chocolate! I think mint chocolate chip ice cream would also be delicious, as well as a whole bunch of other toppings!

Here is the original peanut butter sauce recipe I used: http://www.foodthoughtsofachefwannabe.com/2013/07/homemade-vanilla-ice-cream-with-peanut.html

(These pictures came out kind of bad because I wanted to finish watching my movie.)

*Note: take out 1 tbs of oil to make to make a very dense brownie. If baking powder is not available to you, simply omit it; it does not make a big difference. These can be made in any microwave-safe container, although I do not recommend plastic. Warning, the brownie is very hot on the inside after finished cooking.

Mug Brownies

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Melted Butter

4 Tablespoons Flour

3 Tablespoons Sugar

Pinch Of Salt

1/8 teaspoon Baking Powder

2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder (I prefer Hershey’s Dark Cocoa Powder)

1-2 Tablespoons Oil (such as vegetable, canola or coconut)

1 Tablespoon Water

1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla

Optional toppings:

chocolate chips

nuts

chocolate sauce

ice cream

whipped cream

peanut butter sauce

M&Ms

Fruit

The options are endless!

Instructions:

Melt your butter in a mug in the microwave. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Then add oil, water, and vanilla. Mix well. (Adding the ingredients in this way makes it so that minimal dishes are used...which is the point, right?!)

Cook in microwave for 60 seconds on high. Add more time by 10-20 second increments. Brownie should be slightly moist. Do not microwave too long, or the bottom will become hard.

Add toppings.

Recipe from: http://www.lovefromtheoven.com/2012/07/14/brownie-a-la-anytime-single-serving-brownies-made-in-the-microwave/

Glazed Chocolate Donut Holes

I probably shouldn't experiment on guests anymore, but I can't help myself; they provide the perfect excuse for making something a little extravagant, like these donut holes.

A few weeks ago I needed something yummy for a party, so of course I decided to take my chances and experiment rather than make something I knew would turn out good, but on Sally's Baking Addiction I found these donut holes. And they were way better than I had ever hoped. They were so good that two people asked for the recipe afterwards (squeal!). This 'experiment' did pay off!

They actually took me quite a long time to make, but it was my first time making them, so I'm sure next time it'll go faster. A few notes about the original recipe below, I would suggest filling the cupcake tins about 2/3 full, not 3/4 (but you should probably experiment with that a little). Also, for the glaze I put about 1/2 teaspoon more lemon juice in because I thought the chocolate, lemon, and sugar complimented each other well, but that's a personal preference. I chose to glaze both sides, which is probably what took so long. I dipped them halfway in, then left them in the freezer for awhile. Anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes is probably ok, but just play it by ear. These could be made in a donut pan, but I think donut holes would be better. Plus, you can have more than one!

I'm just warning you, be prepared to lose your self control. I ate at least five, and all of the donuts were gone before the party was over. Yum.

Glazed Chocolate Donut Holes

Recipe from: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/09/06/glazed-chocolate-donut-holes/

Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

I have to say, this is one of the best banana-foods ever. Everyone who tries them falls in love. Instantly. Especially when they just came from the oven. These muffins are just that yummy. Not to mention they can be eaten for breakfast or as a snack, so I can eat them twice as much!

I actually put off making these, and left them to my mom for awhile, because I don't know how to make espresso. I know, pretty sad. And I still haven't learned how to make espresso. But don't let espresso stop you from making them!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 egg

3-4 ripe bananas

1 Tbs. espresso

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Blend butter, sugar, egg, banana, espresso & vanilla.

2. Add flour salt, baking powder & soda. Blend just until flour disappears. Add chocolate chips.

3. Spoon into paper lined muffin cups 2/3 - 3/4 full.

4. Bake 350°F for 25 min.

5. Cool on racks.

Brown Butter Baked Doughnuts

Recently my dad and I made these donuts for breakfast. We should have made them sooner...he sent me the link from Joy the Baker, and it just sat in my inbox for awhile. One weekend I said "let's try them!" and they were amazing—of course. I think it's pretty awesome that we can make baked donuts that actually taste like donuts super easy at home. I don't have a donut pan (I want one though!), but I do have a mini cupcake pan...which so happens to make something similar to donut holes!

These are absolutely divine, just like donuts are supposed to be. We ended up with a little extra chocolate glaze so I just kept dipping my donut holes like it was fondue...yum! I'm not sure what made them taste so donut-y...the frosting definitely had something to do with it I think.

I only dipped the tops of my donut holes because I have tried in another recipe to completly cover the donut holes. It did not work well–we're talking hours...putting them in the freezer, messy hands, running out of frosting and making more. If you really want to dip them all the way, use the freezer and be patient!

Brown Butter Baked Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze

makes 6 doughnuts or 24 doughnut holes

http://joythebaker.com/2013/09/brown-butter-baked-doughnuts/

Traditional Cornish Pasties

We've had some Russian mushrooms sitting in our freezer that we've been wanting to use for a few weeks, but we just didn't know what to put them in. Finally we thought of the idea of pasties. I've been wanting to make some kind of hand pie for awhile, especially pasties because they're Michigan food!

This recipe, originally from Jamie Oliver and edited by the author of framgirlfare.com, doesn't include mushrooms, but we just dumped a cup into the mix. They tasted good in the pasties, even if they were a little slimy. Because of the extra mushrooms, we had extra filling, so we whipped up a quarter of a recipe of dough and made an extra pasty. The dough was a little too sticky, leading us to the monster pasty...

The pasties were delicious, even though I could only eat a half. I would definitely make this recipe again! They need some more salt and potatoes, though. The pasties were suprisingly easy to shape; I felt quite good about my pasty making skills–it must be my Michigan blood. My Dad has even dubbed himself the 'pasty master'.

Traditional Cornish Pasties

Ingredients:

For the pasty:

3¾ cups organic all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (8 ounces/2 sticks) very cold organic butter, diced (or 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup good quality lard)

3/4 cup ice water (you may not need it all)

For the pastry egg wash:

1 large free-range egg and 2 Tablespoons milk, beaten

For the filling:

12 ounces raw beef skirt steak or chuck steak, preferably naturally raised and grass-fed, cut into 1/3-inch dice

2 cups 1/3-inch diced yellow or white onion (about 7½ ounces)

2 cups peeled, 1/3-inch diced red or Yukon Gold potatoes (about 11 ounces)

2 cups 1/3-inch diced carrots (about 8 ounces)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:

Make the pastry before you chop up the filling ingredients. Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the 'S' blade and briefly pulse them together. Add the butter and pulse at 1-second intervals until the largest pieces of butter are the size of chickpeas. Remove the lid, pour 1/2 cup of the ice water evenly over the flour mixture, replace the lid, and pulse a few times. Add just enough more ice water so that the dough holds together when you press it between your fingers. Do not overmix.

Pour the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap, gently pat it together using the edges of the plastic wrap to help you, then flatten it into a large flat disc or rectangle. Wrap it tightly in the plastic and refrigerate it while you make the filling. (You can make the dough several hours ahead of time, or the day before, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to use.)

Heat the oven to 400°F. Combine the chopped beef, onion, potatoes, and carrots in a large bowl. Add the salt, pepper, olive oil, thyme, and rosemary and mix well. Set aside.

Cut the pastry into 6 equal pieces and shape each one into a flat disc. On a lightly floured surface, gently roll each piece of pastry into a 9-inch round. If the dough starts to stick to the work surface or your rolling pin, sprinkle it with a small amount of flour.

Place about 1 cup of filling on each round, either in the middle if you want to bring both sides of the pastry up and together, or on one side so you can pull the other side of the pastry over to make a semi-circle. Use your hand to compact the filling a little, then brush the edges of the pastry with the egg wash, and seal them together. If you're making semi-circles, you can decoratively crimp the edge of the pasties with a fork or your fingers.

Place the pasties on a heavy duty baking sheet lined with unbleached parchment paper, brush them all over with the egg wash, and bake until golden brown, about 40 to 45 minutes. Rotate the pans halfway through baking.

Serve pasties hot, with mustard on the side. They will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator and will also freeze well. Reheat in the oven or microwave.

Recipe from: http://www.farmgirlfare.com/2012/11/recipe-traditional-english-cornish.html

Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles

I know, it's a mouthful to say! But they're also mouthfuls of yumminess. I made these yesterday with my mom...thank goodness she helped! It took quite awhile, and without her I would have spent at least an extra hour in the kitchen. This is one of those recipes I found on Pinterest from Alyssa on therecipecritic.com. I find a lot of recipes on Pinterest...I have pinned so many foods I think it will take me my whole life to make them all!

Anyways, I wanted to make something fall-ish, since we finally live in a four season country! Snickerdoodles and caramel are definitely fall foods; I think salted caramel is becoming very popular recently. I've seen a lot of brown butter recipes, too. So I like to think of these as very up-to-date cookies.

They were absolutely delicious fresh from the oven! The caramel was so gooey, and the salt was the perfect amount. At first I was worried about the salt because the pre-baked cookies were in a ball form, so the salt didn't really stick, and it was only in the very middle. But, since the caramel was in the middle too, it worked out just fine. In most of the cookies we just put one caramel, and we made our cookies pretty small, so we ended up with a lot more than 24!

They got the approval of my family; Dad ate one after dinner, then came into the living room with the rest of us. He said "What is in the middle?". We just said magic...after all, all those flavors and suprises do make these cookies pretty magical!

Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles

Recipe from: http://therecipecritic.com/2013/07/brown-butter-salted-caramel-snickerdoodles/

Deep Dish Single-Serve Pizza

As my first post, I would like to share a very delicious recipe for pizza crust that I found yesterday. I decided I wanted pizza for lunch, since we had just gotten back from vacation and had very little in the kitchen to eat. I searched around on the internet for quite awhile for a recipe for single serving pizza, and finally I found this recipe from flouronmyface.com...the author actually created this recipe, which I thought was pretty impressive. It was exactly the kind of pizza I like...thick, doughy, with good flavor. The honey made it a little sweeter than ordinary, which I thought was a nice change. I ended up only being able to eat half of it, but I wished I could have eaten more! When I made it, I ended up putting in just about all 1 3/4 cups of flour at once. Also, I kneaded it for more like 4 minutes, and skipped punching it down and forming it into a ball—I simply stretched it out a little in my hands to fit the pan. Here is the original recipe:

Single Serve Deep Dish Pizza

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water

1 Tbs. honey

1 generous tbs olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1 3/4 cup flour

Pizza toppings of choice

Directions:

1. Add warm water, honey, olive oil and salt to a bowl. Stir gently. Add yeast and stir.

2. Add one cup of flour and stir together, add more flour as needed if dough is very sticky. Sprinkle ¾ cup flour onto counter top and knead into dough. Knead dough about 8 minutes.

3. Put into an oiled bowl and let rise until doubles–about 45 minutes to an hour.

4. Punch dough down and form a tight ball. Let rest about 5 minutes. Oil a nine inch cake pan.

5. Preheat oven to 450ºF.

6. Place dough into the center of the cake pan and push down to flatten. Using the heal of your hand work the dough from the center out to edges of pan. If dough is tight and resisting, stop and allow it to rest another five minutes or so. 

7. Spread some sauce on and add your toppings.

8. For a soft bottom place pan on top rack. For a crisper bottom place it on the bottom rack of your oven.

9. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until dough is cooked through and the cheese has melted.

Recipe from: http://www.flouronmyface.com/2010/08/single-serve-deep-dish-pizza.html