Monthly Archives: November 2016

Apple Spice Mini Loaves

My grandpa gave me apples the other day! I do eat one a day religiously as the saying goes. In addition, I could not wait to use them in recipes and make homemade apple butter.  We did end up placing a batch of apples in the slowcooker for homemade apple butter to give out at the holiday this past weekend.

 I personally feel like there is nothing better than homemade thoughtful gifts to give out during the holidays to our friends and family. 

This recipe yields: 4 mini loaves

Ingredients:

3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

2 Tablespoon ground flaxseed

1 teaspoon ground  apple pie spice

1 2/3 cup granulated sugar or raw sugar 

1/2 cup egg white substitute 

1 whole egg

1 Tablespoon of pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 

1/2 cup plain or vanilla Greek nonfat yogurt 

3 cups of apples (peeled, cored, and diced)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cooking spray mini loaf stoneware. Set aside. 

2. Place the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together. Set aside.

3. In another large bowl mix together the liquid ingredients (egg substitute, egg, vanilla, oil, applesauce, yogurt). 

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet using a silicone spatula. Incorporate until all the ingredients are wet with no dry residue. Caution not to over mix. Lastly fold in the apples. 

5. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared  mini vessels ( each one takes about 1.5 cups).

6. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out without wet residue. 

7. Allow the breads to cool in pan for 5 minutes then invert onto wire rack for remainder of cooling process. 

Enjoy! 








George’s Best Man-Dog Cake

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We attendee a very special wedding earlier in the month of our dear friends. It was a lot of fun. We had the honor of preparing their wedding cake for this memorable event.

Their adorable 4-pawed son aka chocolate lab, George was in the wedding party! In honor of this families special day we also baked a dog best man’s cake to go along with their wedding cake. George was able to share his cake with his fellow wedding attendee pups.

If you like the dog biscuits you can find the recipe here. 

This recipe yields one 6 inch round cake

Peanut Butter & Carrot Cake

Ingredients: 
1/8 cup natural peanut butter

1/8 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/8 cup honey

2 egg whites (1/4 cup egg substitute)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 cup shredded carrots (about 1 large carrot)

Directions: 

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degree & parchment paper line a 6 inch round cake pan & spray with flour canola oil spray (like bakers joy or the pam variety).
  2. In a medium mixing bowl mix together vegetable oil, egg, honey and vanilla extract. Set aside
  3. In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon.  Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix until no dry residue remains. Fold in carrots.
  4. Once batter is combined, pour into the prepared 6 inch baking pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Use toothpick method to check the readiness of the cake. Once toothpick comes out clean out of the center of the cake with no wet residue removed the cake from the oven and allow to cool on wire rack for 5 minutes in the pan. Once time has elapsed remove from the pan and allow to cool the remainder of the time on wire rack.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients: 

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter

Directions: 

  1. In a medium mixing bowl with a hand mixer, combine the cream cheese and the peanut butter, beat together until creamy and spreadable.
  2. Once the cake has cooled.  Frost the cake and decorate as you wish. If you like the biscuit idea make sure to add the biscuits while the frosting is still wet and has not firmed up.

Pumpkin Spice Beignets

We rarely use a frier but there are some days when you crave a memory and the only way to take you to that special taste is recreating it at home. My husband’s aunt and uncle brought us Cafe Du Monde Beignet mix for Christmas last year. I was cleaning out the cabinet and came across the box and decided to make some beignets for breakfast for old time sake. I still can remember when we went to Cafe Du Monde for the first time. I can remember breathing in the powdered sugar. 

The coffee is so delicious there. The special ingredient in Cafe Du Monde coffee is chickory. I add their chickory to every pot of coffee we brew. This batch of beignets goes really well with a hot cup of chickory infused Joe! 

I can never leave well enough alone and I thought I’d add some fall flavor to this classic mix. We have pumpkin in abuncance and thought this would do the trick to add some fall flare. 

Servings 12 (24 beignets)

Ingredients:

2 cups of dry cafe du monde beignet mix

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 

3/4 cup buttermilk

4 Tablespoons pumpkin purée 

Canola oil for frying

Cinnamon & sugar blend (optional) [ usually 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon]

Directions: 

1. Start the oil for beignets and prepare the temperature to 370 degrees by either a electric fryer or using a candy thermometer in a deep skillet. If using a skillet place 1-2 inches deep of oil. 

2. While the oil heats. Place the beignet mix and pumpkin spice in a medium bowl and whisk. Add in the buttermilk and puréed pumpkin using a silicone spatula fold ingredients together. 

3. Prepare a lightly floured surface and roll the dough out to an 1/8 thickeness and evenly cut the dough into 24 pieces. 

4. In 1 to 2 inches of prepared oil, fry the beignets for 8-10 seconds until puffy and golden brown. Make sure to bast continuously. Once beignets are to desired color and pillow shape. Remove from frier and place on wire rack with paper towels below rack and allow excess oil to drip off. Allow to cool slightly. 

5. In the meantime; in a paper brown bag place the cinnamon and sugar blend. Give the bag a good few shakes.   Add a few donuts at a time and shake to coat the beignets. 

6.  Remove the Beignets from the brown bag & Enjoy ! 

George’s Dog Biscuits

We attendee a very special wedding yesterday of our dear friends. It was a lot of fun. We had the honor of preparing their wedding cake.

Their adorable 4-pawed son aka chocolate lab was in the wedding party! In honor of this families special day we also baked a dog best man’s cake to go along with their wedding cake. To top off the cake, we made George LC Brown savory dog biscuits. 

This recipe was adapted from all recipes.  

Ingredients: 

1 teaspoon of penzey’s beef base

3/4 cup boiling water

2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, plus scant for kneading.

3/4 cup dry powdered milk

1/4 cup egg white

1/2 cup canola oil

2 TABLESPOONs of brown sugar (not packed)

Yields: 2 half sheet pans of mini dog bones; aka enough to fill a 24 ounce mason jar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Paperline a half sheet baking pan. 

2. Dissolve the beef base in the boiling water. Set aside.

3. In a medium to large bowl whisk together flour, dry milk, egg whites, brown sugar, and oil. Add in the broth liquid and incorporate into the batter. 

4. Place the dough onto lightly floured surface and knead the dough 4-5 times. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut the dough into desired shapes. 

5. Place the cutouts closely on prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 300 degrees.

6. Remove from oven and allow to cool on pan on wire rack. Once cooled store in mason jar.