UM, HI!

So it's been a LONG time since the last time I updated this thing, huh? Life has brought me away from baking and one major thing is that we cut sugar out of our diet as much as possible. It's no fun to bake if you can't eat it.

One of the many things I've been doing is pet rescue! I found a dog on my porch May 17th 2010(One year minus a day!). A rescue agreed to take her as long as I fostered her. I did and then ended up keeping her after 6 months of weekly meet and greets.

This leads me to last weekend. We had a meeting/party and everyone pitched in some food. I told them I would bring cookies! They were just the Betty Crocker mix in the bag, but they were still delicious.

I did run into a problem with my last bag. I accidentally put the hand mixer on a high setting and before I noticed it I had chocolate mix. I decided to bake them and if they didn't come out I was going to dump the mix. They turned out fine and tasted great!

So here are some pictures:

During the party we gave this plaque to the lady who runs the rescue:

Ice cream cake...not as you think

I baked a cake! After months of doing nothing I got busy! Well, not exactly. I did bake chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies, sugar cookies, and brownies for my BFF's baby shower in April. Things were so busy then that I just didn't have the time to update!

This recipe is really simple:

Your ingredients are:

1 box cake mix(any flavor!)
1 pint ice cream(any flavor!)
1 cup water
3 eggs

That's it!

No pictures this time sorry.

Grease and flour a bundt pan

Preheat your oven to 350

Beat all ingredients for FOUR minutes(I know it sounds crazy but it does clump)

Pour into pan and bake for 45 minutes

Take out and wah-lah!



It is the most moist cake you will EVER have. I used peach ice cream and yellow cake. While I didn't think it came out awesome other people said it was pretty good. I think I could have used a better ice cream. I tasted it afterwards and it was a pretty weak taste. :( I topped mine with vanilla icing and frozen peaches. Oh, and I only baked it for 40 minutes.




I got the recipe from here: http://www.omnomicon.com/ice-cream-cake

Sugar Cookies!

Today I promised my husband that if he caught us up on dishes then I would bake him something today. I cut my hand working this week and so the dishes kind of took a back burner and piled up a little bit(enough to try to entice him to do it, especially since my sore is still a bit open). So here we go!

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).



In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.


Set aside.



In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.





Beat in egg and vanilla.





Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.





Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.



Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden.



Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.


So, you can see my cookies are a bit flat. I did a little bit of research and your type of butter can affect this. I only had Smart Balance 50/50 with olive oil and I really thing that's why they fell. They are still amazing~

Nom Nom Nom!

My first two layer cake!



It was cake mix so no recipe stuff. I'm pretty happy because I failed miserably the first time I tried to make a 2 layer cake. This time I let it cool for an hour and a half before attempting anything. After that, I shaved off the rounded top of the layer designated to be on the bottom. I also turned that one upside down so I would have no issues putting the frosting on.

Okay, time to go eat it and Happy Valentines day~

cake mix biscotti take 2

I had a couple of cake mix boxes laying around so I decided to make some more cake mix biscotti. No recipe this time since all you have to do is go here. This time I used Golden Butter cake mix and chocolate chips. I then melted chocolate chips and put them on top.


before cutting. They were pretty hard to cut and I'm assuming it was from all the chocolate sticking to it.


I melted chocolate chips and put them on the top.

Libby's Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies

During October I bought a couple cans of pumpkin with the idea of making pumpkin cookies for Halloween. It got put off and then when I actually looked at the recipe I noticed I was missing way too many ingredients. I bought all the ingredients, but I had a new mission. I wasn't going to bake these for my family, but for my husband's cousin who is in boot camp. He has to provide sweets for his whole squadron(?) or his sergeant(?) will take them all. Anyways, here's the recipe!

Ingredients

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
* 1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
* 1 large egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract





PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl.

Add a caption

Ingredients * 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour * 1 teaspoon baking soda * 1 teaspoon baking powder * 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon * 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar * 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened * 1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin * 1 large egg * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. (I accidentally added my egg and vanilla here)





Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth(I just beat in the pumpkin)



after:




Gradually beat in flour mixture





Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.





BAKE for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm (I did 15)



ta-dah!





After they cool you add the glaze:

GLAZE:
*2 cups sifted powdered sugar
*3 tablespoons milk
*1 tablespoon melted butter
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine in a small bowl until smooth. I put the mixture in a bag and made a small hole in the corner

Add a caption

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.

and then just squeeze!!










We taste tested these and they are AMAZING. I don't know how I can part with them!!

Measuring Flour

I noticed something while leafing through my Betty Crocker cookbook that I received when Mike and I were married. Apparently, you're supposed to scoop flour out with a spoon and put it in your measuring cup that way. After its overflowing you then level it off with a knife.

I googled "measuring flour" and came upon a website that gave the correct weight for one cup

• One cup of white flour weighs 120 grams.
• One cup of whole wheat flour weighs 140 grams.
• One cup of bread flour weighs 130 grams.
• One cup of cake flour weighs 114 grams.

So, if you have a scale you can do it that way! Correct flour measuring is very important. Too much flour and your end product will be tough and dry. Too little and it will just fall apart!