BakeAwayGirl

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Adapted from here Topping: 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 1 (8-ounce) can pineapple rings in pineapple juice Maraschino cherries Cake : 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup granulated sugar 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature 2 large eggs Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray; set aside. Melt 4 tablespoons unsalted butter and 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar in a small pan over medium heat, stirring frequently. The mixture is done when the sugar is bubbly and slightly more brown. Pour the sugar mixture into a prepared cake pan and spread into an even layer to cool slightly. Remove the pineapple rings from the can and reserve 1/2 cup of the juice. Set a single ring in the center of the pan, then arrange 6 to 7 rings around the center ring. Place a maraschino cherry in the center of each ring and set the pan aside. Whisk flour, baki...

 You read that right: these are THE best chocolate chip cookies ever. I found a basic recipe back when... I'm not even sure now? I think I still lived at home so let's just say it's been well over a decade! Anyway, the recipe was fine but regularly made thin, crispy cookies which are awful (sorry, not sorry). I spent many hours, tears, and pounds of butter throughout the last fifteen-ish years, tweaking the recipe slightly here and there to find just the right balance. I can finally say I have achieve the most perfect cookie, and it's my first real recipe... as in, I created it!  They are chewy and thick, with a crunchy edge and hold up their soft, chewy insides even after being left out overnight. Honestly, I even skip the cookies at the store because I prefer these. Chocolate Chip Cookies 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1.5 sticks), softened 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 whole egg 1 egg yolk 2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda Pinch ...

 Our neighbor brought us a basket of fresh picked strawberries, and while our kids inhale strawberries, we had just picked up a bunch from the grocery store. There was no way we could eat them all.  Well, there was, but it would be ridiculous. So instead, I headed to Pinterest for ideas. This particular recipe was so delicious that we immediately made it again, substituting the strawberries for raspberries and lemon. It was way more tart with the raspberries and lemon, but I also went hard with lemon, so it's possible to sweeten it up.  The point is, you can use most berries in some form. It's worth noting that this does go bad relatively quickly when left at room temperature, even when well wrapped.  We didn't quite finish the last pieces of either version before they went bad... and we ate it fast. So either store it in the fridge, or bring it to share within a day or two. Strawberry Oatmeal Bars Adapted from here 1 cup rolled oats 3/4 cup flour 1/3 cup brown sugar...

Yum!  Fall is here, and that means everything turns into a pumpkin.  My kitchen churns out all sorts of pumpkin spiced baked goods, from bread to donuts to these new cookies.  My son loves to help me bake, and our favorite activity is cookies, mostly because he loves to eat the chocolate chips that play a major role in every cookie I make.  Including these beauties.  I've never had pumpkin cookies, but everything else it touches is delicious, so why not?  Well, except pie.  Pumpkin pie is gross.  Fight me. So in my first attempt of pumpkin cookies I have learned a few things. These don't spread.  However you plop them on the cookie sheet is pretty much how they come out.  I happen to like them to look like delightful little blobs of pumpkin-y goodness, but the original recipe suggests using the back of a spoon to squish them down a little. These are cake-like.  Very dense.  It makes it extra delicious and increases your...

We had a ton of cherries that we just could not eat them all before they were going to go bad.  I always wanted to bake with cherries, but I don't have the patience to pit them.  Luckily, I have the best, most patient husband in the world, and he said he would pit 6 cups of cherries for me!  Perfection!  That was the right amount for my very first cherry pie, something I've wanted to do forever. But the group we were having over had a gluten-free member.  She never expects anyone to accommodate her, but a life without dessert just sounds terrible, so I always try to make some dessert she can have.  Seriously, I'd never go to a party if I couldn't ever have dessert.   So instead, I found two similar recipes, one gluten-free.  That one was supposedly with blueberries, but the topping was a sort of lemon shortbread topping, which would work just as deliciously with cherries.  So I made double the amount of cherries needed for the crum...

This is a childhood staple for me.  Anytime we have uneaten bananas that have gone beyond edible in our eyes, we would mash up 3 of them and make banana nut bread.  It was always a breakfast food, but it's definitely dessert-like.  It's delicious and even moreso now that I usually incorporate chocolate chips as well! Banana Nut Bread 1/2 cup butter 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp baking soda 2 cups flour 1 1/4 cup mashed bananas (3) 1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts) - Optional 1 cup chocolate chips - optional Cream butter and sugar.  Beat until smooth; add eggs. Stir in flour and baking soda, one cup at a time.  Mix until fully incorporated. Add bananas and any extras such as nuts and/or chocolate chips. Line a bread pan with parchment paper, or wax paper.  Pour batter into the pan. Bake at 350* for about 1 hour and 10 minutes.  This varies.  The edges finish first, but the very center usually is still doughy.  Bake until it's to ...

When we first moved into our house, we embarked upon the adventure of discovering all the plants in our yard.  We played "Weed or Legit Plant" for pretty much the whole summer.  Turned out, the giant growth of plants in our arbor was raspberries!  Jeff had some for breakfast every day for a few weeks.  The next year, the plants grew, but no berries, so I gave it one more year to produce or I was cutting it all out and seeding over the area. This year, Jeff picks about 4+ cups of raspberries every single day. So we immediately took to Pinterest to find baking ideas including fresh raspberries, and this bread was our first foray into it.  It's named "bread" but make no mistake; it's a cake.  A delicious, lemony, raspberry-filled cake.  Yummmmm Mini Loaves Raspberry Lemon Bread Adapted from here Bread 1 cup butter 2 1/4 cup granulated sugar 4 eggs 2 1/2 cups flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 cup sour cream 1 tsp vanill...

I have admired trifles from afar for a while now, and then my cousin told me about one she made and I was very jealous.  But as it's not a baking dessert, I generally steered clear.  Also, I didn't have a trifle dish and wasn't about to buy one for something I wasn't sure I even sure I would like. So when we were browsing the shelves of Bed, Bath, and Beyond to register for our wedding, I somewhat sheepishly added a trifle dish.  Secretly, I think, I hoped that being a grown married woman would encourage me to make fancy desserts, like trifles. Well being a grownup married woman didn't have much to do with it, but hosting my first book club in our first house sure inspired me. That, and having a 10 pound box of fresh Michigan blueberries in the fridge. It was easier than anticipated and certainly a crowd-pleaser.  It's rare when you have a group of women that every one goes up for seconds!  But I will admit I was slightly disappointed in my first adv...

Couldn't even wait to take a picture! My favorite way to find a new recipe isn't actually Pinterest.  I prefer accidentally discovering a food I love (by eating it of course) and then asking someone for the recipe.  This past summer, at my cousin's birthday party, her roommate brought out a chocolate cake.  Me and chocolate are besties, so of course I took a piece.  After the first bite, I decided I had discovered my new favorite chocolate cake! This cake is luscious.  Decadent.  Sinful.  Devil's Food Cake, you naive child, you haven't tasted sinful yet. There is so much chocolate, but it is balanced out by enough moisture that it never becomes cloying and overdone.  It's just delicious.  Every bite is worth the calories.  I will admit I have only made it once because we had company in town and I wanted something to wow the crowd.  Simply making it for Jeff and I, or even a small party, feels too gluttonous.  After all...

Believe it or not, folks, this was not  a Pinterest find.  I know, shock and awe.  You see, while I spend many hours browsing Pinterest, Jeff reads articles and browses pictures of ridiculous people and cats.  He sends me so many links that I ignore half of them, but I was lucky I looked at this one.  It was a Buzzfeed article on the best one-bowl cakes. I had offered to make cupcakes for a friend's baby shower, and I knew she wanted chocolate, so when I stumbled on this Buzzfeed article, I made sure to pin it for later.  The original recipe only made 12 cupcakes, which is just ridiculous to me.  Who eats only 12 cupcakes?!  Silly. These were a hit at the baby shower and the few leftovers I had went quickly.  I will admit that I did not eat one.  There were fantastic cake pops at the shower as well, and I hit those hard.  So, personally, I cannot vouch for these cupcakes.  However, based on how fast they went, I will gues...

Part Two of our pumpkin delights!  As soon as pumpkin season began, I was craving pumpkin bread.  It's so spongey and full of flavor.  So of course I began browsing Pinterest, and discovered I had pinned a recipe last year and never gotten around to it.  As I was assembling my ingredients, I realized the recipe made two loaves.  I hesitated for only a moment before figuring if  some  pumpkin bread was good,  more  was better! You could easily do a cream cheese frosting or even a brown sugar glaze, but it was so delicious all on its own that we didn't make anything. I'm posting the recipe that will  only make one loaf of pumpkin bread .  It is easily doubled and makes plenty.  We made one regular sized loaf and three mini loaves to share with our doubled recipe.  I do recognize that I might be alone in my desire for that much pumpkin bread, so here is the recipe for just one.  Enjoy... and bring your extras over to...

Sorry for the lousy instagram shot... it's all I could do with my time Mmmm it is my most favorite time of the year!  Around August, I start craving soups, stews, and things made of apples and pumpkins.  Luckily, last year I had the foresight to buy in bulk, and at the end of the holiday season, I bought canned pumpkin from Costco and it's been sitting in the back of my pantry, patiently awaiting this very event. This is a two-part post, and the first is dedicated to a favorite from last year.  While browsing Pinterest for great holiday ideas, I found a recipe for pumpkin donuts.  We had all the ingredients, but we were missing the mini-muffin pan.  Well, I take any excuse to hit up TJ Maxx!  Heck yes.  So we found the pan (as well as many other things, of course) and began baking. These have a sugary cinnamony coating that just totally makes these little bites of heaven.  The only thing is, I haven't yet perfected a technique for creatin...

When I'm craving something sweet and homemade, I bake one of two things:  brownies or chocolate chip cookies.  What can I say?  I like the basics.  I will eat tiramisu all day long, and if you want to bring me your fancy dessert, I'll eat that too, but my favorites will always be the classics. In my mother's house, if you ever bake a full batch of cookies, you're doing something wrong.  Lecture all you'd like about raw eggs.  I'll listen politely... as I stuff my face with raw cookie dough.  Mmmm salmonella!  My mother would rather have a spoonful of cold cookie dough than a warm chocolate chip cookie any day, so in her house, we made whatever dough she liked best.  As a result, we always made the standard recipe on the back of the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip bag. Which made flat, hard cookies. Blech. Not my picture! I tried undercooking them.  I tried melted butter, cold butter.  It didn't matter, they were always f...

Jeff and I were grocery shopping a while ago, and he paused longingly at a container of shortbread cookies, topped with chocolate.  Of course, this was your generic warehouse store, and the container of cookies held way more cookies than he or I should ever have in the house at one time.  I dragged my reluctant boyfriend along to stay on task, but the seed was firmly planted in my brain. Before coating in chocolate When we got home, I began my search.  Believe it or not, this recipe did not  come from Pinterest [pause for shouts of shock and awe].  You know how much I love Pinterest.  Pinterest is ideal for hours of lazy browsing through pictures of things that I will never or could never do and occasionally stumbling on something beautiful that I can and will do.  Searching for something specific, however, is not a task Pinterest serves well.  So I hit up Google and found a food network recipe. Now, these are shortbread cookies, which mea...

For the Independence Day, I brought that Blueberry Buckle from the previous post, but I felt like a copout.  But it's a holiday!  I wanted something a little more... festive.  So I started searching Pinterest (of course), and I came across this picture: Well pinwheels are pretty easy!  So I gathered my ingredients and got to work.  These can be altered for whatever colors you want or whatever season.  At Christmas, I've sprinkled 1/2 tsp of cinnamon in the red dough for a bit of a bite.  You can play however you'd like. **Just be aware that these cookies need to rest in the fridge for roughly 5 hours.  You can make them in advance and just slice and bake when your guests come (or when you're hungry), but they will need at least 5 hours for cooling. Pinwheel Cookies:  4th of July Version Cutting the dough Adapted from here 1 cup of butter (2 sticks), room temperature 1-1/3 cup sugar 2 eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract 3 cups flour...

This blueberry cake is addicting, and it is unfortunately easy to make.  You're not a big baker?  Well, dear, I've found a recipe that you can throw together that will make everyone think you're a whiz.  This delectable treat was first brought to my attention at a family party by a family friend.  She mentioned that she got the recipe from a morning news show, but to be honest, I wasn't really listening and so I'm vague on the details. If you recognize this recipe, feel free to tell me in the comments section.  I don't want to be accused of stealing someone's recipe. I brought this to our 4th of July party yesterday, and it was a huge hit.  No one ever believes how stupidly easy it is too... yum! Blueberry Cake I got so carried away I forgot to take a picture! So I stole this one... which is exactly how it looks 1 tall can of pineapple (I prefer crushed, but you can use any style) 3 cups of blueberries (1 pint = about 2 cups) 3/4 cup sugar 1 b...

Every year, my aunt hosts Easter at her house, and it's a giant potluck brunch.  There's always more food than any one person should eat (doesn't stop us though).  We all come equipped with tupperwear so we can take leftovers home and eat for days.  As such, I like to experiment with new things because I know it will get eaten. One year, I tried out some new cake decorating... Chocolate cake, white butter cream icing -- 2010 Another year, I did some Easter-inspired sugar cookies.  This was particularly awesome because we were going out of town and I didn't even get to eat a single cookie! This year, my aunt asked me to bring cupcakes.  Well I just haven't been much in a cake-decorating mood lately.  In fact, I don't think I've decorated a cake or cupcake since February.  I'm dissatisfied with my frosting since it doesn't taste as delicious as the professional bakers.  Silly reason, but nonetheless, I am on the quest for the perfect f...

If I have a weakness, it's Oreos.  Ok fine, I'm a sucker for Doritos too, but Oreos might be even worse.  I don't allow myself to buy a package of them because I will eat the entire thing in two, maybe three days.  No, that's not a joke, yes I recognize that's sad.  Hence, I don't allow myself to buy them! But when I saw this on Pinterest, I couldn't resist.  Can you? Taken from MyBakingAddiction.com Right, so now that we're all on the same page, I immediately went out to purchase the goods.  I didn't make the cake from her recipe, because I already have a favorite chocolate cake recipe (that will be a later post).  I stuck with my cake, and I used her Oreo buttercream recipe.  My anticipation was so great, I could hardly stand it! But I was disappointed :(  That light, fluffy, creamy frosting that we associate with Oreo deliciousness was missing, and I should have seen it coming.  That kind of frosting comes from a whipped cre...

Oh heaven, these are my favorite.  Yes, this is my favorite baked good that I have discovered on Pinterest.  When I was younger, I thought scones were like a hard cookie that old English ladies ate.  How wrong I was... These feature that heavenly combination of cranberry and orange, which cannot be beat.  If that's not your cup of tea, you're living a sad, sad life.  No, just kidding (sorta).  You might be able to substitute your favorites (chocolate chips, apple cinnamon, blueberry), but I haven't tried it.  Let me know if you try and how it works! Without further ado... Cranberry Orange Scones Adapted from here 3 cups flour 1/3 cup sugar 2.5 tsps baking powder Smidge of salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/4 cup cold butter (1.5 sticks) 1 cup buttermilk 1 cup dried cranberries 1 tsp grated orange peel (I'm too lazy to measure this, I just grate until I'm happy) 1 tablespoon milk 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 tsp cinnamon In your large mixing b...

Oh yes, you read that right... Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies.  It's a mouthful of a name and, I mean, just look at this picture from Pinterest... Not my picture!  Stolen from SweetestKitchen.com How do you not start drooling?  I know I did!  And I had been craving something sweet that evening, so I popped right up off the couch to make these.  The recipe is very simple, so it wasn't hard.  When they came out of the oven, they looked very similar to the picture above and I was so excited!  But then I took a bite... and it was dry and crumbly.  Not exactly my favorite baked goods flavor.  Then, after being covered overnight, the next day, these were rock hard. Not exactly my favorite Pinterest recipe.  But I like soft, chewey cookies, not crunchy ones.  If you like a crunchy cookie, this is for you!  Also, I used crunchy peanut butter because we don't ever have creamy peanut butter in the house (mostly 'ca...