Blueberry Cobblercakes

by Anne

Before I even knew I was moving back to Minnesota, a friend of mine in Chicago threw a Minnesota hot dish party. And while my friend is technically not a Minnesooooota native, she’s definitely one of the state’s biggest fans, so Christopher and I knew we had to “bring the goods,” as it were.  

So even though it was June, in Chicago, we fired up the oven. Christopher whipped up a couple of batches of his family’s New York Spaghetti Pie recipe (yes, it IS a Minnesota hot dish despite the name), and I made a couple of desserts- Minnesota-shaped cookies (sorry, no pictures!) and blueberry cobblercakes. Yum! 

These cobbler cupcakes couldn’t be easier to make… or harder to eat! Be sure you use the foil muffin cups - and serve with a spoon- ‘cuz you really don’t want to unwrap these guys, trust me.

Blueberry Cobblercakes
•    1 box of cake mix. Vanilla, white, yellow- whatever you prefer!
•    Butter
•    Blueberry filling. You can buy it canned or make your own!

Fill each muffin cup about halfway with blueberry filling. Top each ‘cake with a generous spoonful of dry cake mix. Remember, since you’re not actually turning the mix into a batter, nothing will rise- so don’t worry about filling close to the rim. Place a small, thin pat of butter on the top of each cobbler. Don’t be too skimpy here, the butter needs to melt into the cake mix and form a warm, golden crust. But, don’t OVERindulge either, unless you just want to taste butter. Ew.
 

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are golden. The filling will probably bubble up a bit. Don’t worry, that’s a good thing.

A Perfect Baker's Dozen

by Terese
 

Pretty late Tuesday night I got a special request for chocolate cupcakes for the following evening. Seeing as I teach and work on Wednesday's, I knew fitting in a complicated chocolate cake recipe in an hour and then decorating them in a manner that won't embarrass myself was kinda out of the question. PLUS I was out of butter. F***. What to do?! What to make?!

One Bowl Chocolate Cake of course. The recipe has the shortest list of ingredients possible, only uses one bowl and tastes better than any mix would. And it would leave me enough time to throw together a frosting  and make these little babies beautiful. Or as beautiful as could be expected after a 10 hour day and with only 20 min. Mission accomplished.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup Kahlua or coffee (optional, if not gonna use then just do 3/4 cup milkie)

1 egg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, powder and salt in an electric mixing bowl. 
• Add the milk, Kahlua (if using), egg, oil and vanilla. 
• Beat on medium speed for 2 min. 
• Scrape down bowl, then beat for another 2 min. 
• Pour into 12 paper-lined muffin tins. The recipe filled them up perfectly, hence the perfect this baker's dozen. 
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 min. 
• Allow to cool, then frost. 

I used the Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Frosting recipe off that back of the box because I needed something that didn't use too much butter. (Aaron stole me one single stick from his mom, don't tell anyone.)  

That's it. Maybe not the most exciting thing I've ever made, but they took me all of 1 hr total and they looked pretty... pretty... pretty... nice.  

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

by Anne

Feeding my fascination* for all things Amish,** my mom gave me this Amish Cooking book as a wedding gift.  While these Pumpkin Streusel Muffins were the first recipe I tried from the book, they certainly won’t be the last. In fact, I can honestly say that I’ve never made a better batch of homemade muffins. They were dense but not dry, and full of flavor.

The original recipe called for a loaf but... it was already 10:30 am on Saturday and I didn’t want to wait 50 minutes for a darn loaf of pumpkin bread when I knew muffins would only take 20 minutes. And I like muffins. ‘Cuz they’re like breakfast cupcakes.

The muffins will keep for a few days. I baked these guys on Saturday and we brought a batch over to my mother-in-law on Valentine’s Day. And, they still tasted amazingly fresh!  None of that day-old-and-already-dry nastiness that so often plagues my homemade baked goods. Sigh.

Some tips… 

• Line your muffin tin with liners and spray the liners with baking spray. Don’t over-spray or the muffins will separate from the liners and you won’t be able to take cute pictures. A light misting should do. 
• Use an ice cream scoop like this one to scoop batter into the muffin cups. It’s easy. It’s clean. And it results in well-portioned little muffins.
• Apply the streusel generously, please. It adds a nice texture and flavor –and really, who doesn’t want a muffin covered in warm, gooey brown sugar?

I definitely plan to bake these again- but maybe I’ll plan ahead and actually make it in loaf-form. Or, if I’m feeling really adventurous, I’ll make a pumpkin bundt. I’m not quite sure how to streusel a bundt, but you better believe I’m gonna learn. So stay tuned...

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Muffins:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin (from the can, but the real stuff not the pie filling)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Streusel:

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup almonds 

Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare your muffin tins (or, if you want to make a loaf, grease and flour a loaf pan).

For the muffins...

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. Beat butter and granulated sugar in mixer until fluffly. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla extract. Gradually add the flour mixture.


For the streusel...

Combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender (two knives, or even a food processor will do), until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in nuts.

Scoop batter into muffin cups and sprinkle streusel topping over each muffin. If you're making a loaf, the recipe suggests you layer the streusel (spoon half of the batter into the loaf pan, add half of the streusel, then spoon the remaining batter into the pan and top with the rest of the streusel)- but this seemed WAY too tedious for muffins. And, c'mon... if it's 10:30 on a Saturday and I haven't made breakfast yet... I'm obviously feeling too lazy to do something like this.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. If you want to make a loaf, bake for 45-50 minutes.

So, what do y’all think? Would you give these guys a whirl or are you the kind of person who prefers a granola bar or banana bread for breakfast?

*Pun intended. Obviously.
** Sorry, Claire.

Cake Mix Snickerdoodles

by Anne

As promised, here’s the final post of the “farewell Chicago party/baking extravaganza” trilogy (don’t forget to check out Part 1: Blonde Brownies and Part 2: S’more Cupcakes). And now for Part 3: Snickerdoodles!

Cake mix snickerdoodles, to be exact. Fun stuff here, folks. And super easy to boot!

Mmmm. Aren’t they pretty? Can you tell these pictures were taken a while ago…in the soft lighting of the warm Chicago summer sun? Not like the latest batch of photos snapped in the ever-fleeting light of the Minnesota winter. Bah humbug. Or something like that.

Anyway, here’s the scoop…

Cake Mix Snickerdoodles (from this blog)

• 1 box cake mix (vanilla, white, yellow- whatever you prefer!) 
• 1/3 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• Cinnamon and sugar for coating

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients (except the cinnamon and sugar) in a medium bowl.  Chill batter for at least 30 minutes. Roll batter into balls and coat with cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Bake for about 10 minutes... or until they look done.

I made these little guys twice and while the flavor and texture was consistent from one batch to the next, the cookies remained small the first time 'round and spread out during round two. I’m not really sure why, since both were chilled and similarly-portioned on a cool baking sheet. Oh well, most of the chemistry behind baking remains a mystery to me.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal-Craisin-Chocolate-Almond Bliss

by Anne

I got this cookbook for my birthday last year and I have solid plans to bake my way through the entire thing. Seriously, not a single recipe has failed me. In fact, I’ve revisited multiple recipes multiple times- a rare occurrence for this somewhat restless baker.

These cookies are faaaaan-tastic. And while I didn’t follow the recipe exactly as it was written, I’ve had absolutely no complaints from the household cookie monster (his mom liked them too!). They’re great as-is or crumbled over a big bowl of vanilla ice cream.  And because they have oatmeal, nuts, and craisins, they kind of taste like a granola bar. So you can definitely justify having a few of them with your morning coffee, right? 

A couple of notes:

• The dough will be stiff. And I mean, STIFF.  That’s a good thing- it means the cookies will be nice and dense.
• Use whole, rolled oats. Not the instant kind. I’ve used both and the former have a far better texture and way more flavor.
• I use "Baking Spice" from Penzey's instead of straight cardamom. If you can get your hands on some of it, do. It’s amazing stuff.
• Let the dough chill. Seriously. I usually bake my cookies in small batches so that I don’t eat all of them in one sitting “overindulge.” The dough will keep in your refrigerator for up to a week or you can freeze it for up to two months.

 Oatmeal-Craisin-Chocolate-Almond Bliss

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking spice
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups oats
• 1 cup craisins
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup chopped almonds
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars in an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add half of this mixture to the butter mixture and beat for 15-30 seconds. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Add the oats and beat for another 15-30 seconds. Fold in the craisins, almonds, and chocolate chips. Cover the bowl and chill for 6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Form the dough into balls and place an inch or so apart on a cookie sheet. If desired, sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Be sure to rotate the pan halfway through the baking time to ensure even heating.

Not Quite Homemade Chili

by Anne

Well, last Sunday was the Super Bowl. And from what I can tell, it has something to do with football. At least that’s always what they seem to play between the commercials. But really, who knows.

Mysteries aside, ‘tis the season to make chili. While, I usually prefer something completely homemade (like my sister-in-law Claire's Turkey Chili Recipe- yum!), this recipe is not too shabby. It's easy, pretty tasty, and makes enough for a crowd – or, if you don’t want to share, enough for about a week’s worth of single-serving chili. But, really, that just sounds intense.

Anyway, grab a bag of “Darn Good Chili Mix” at the store, a couple cans of tomato paste, and ground chicken, turkey, or beef (all optional but highly recommended). 

Brown the ground meat- add some seasoning during this process or else the chili will taste really meat-y. Eish. Follow the directions on the package for the chili- boiling water, adding mix etc. Feel free to add some ingredients to taste- I usually opt for some extra green pepper, onion, and a can of corn. The mix is good, but if you want it a little spicy, add some chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes.

Top with sour cream and cheese like so:

Oh, and serve with some corn bread muffins. I don’t have a picture of the muffins, but they couldn’t be easier, honestly. Buy that oh-so-trusty box of jiffy corn bread mix, add an egg, 1/3 cup milk (I only had heavy whipping cream, so I was forced to use it…sigh), and about half a can of sweet corn. The muffins are kind of crumbly, but delicious.

What? Someone's been reading this?!?

by Anne

I just found out that my Red Velvet Whoopie Pies are featured on A Foxy Wedding's Whoopie Pies post! Whoohoo!

Now, I probably should have figured this out a while ago, since the post was way back in October 2009... but obviously I've been a little slow to the whole blogging thang. Meh.

Anyway, THANKS Foxy Wedding. You made my day!

Update! Roasted Tomato Soup

by Anne

Well, I probably should have had a bowl of the Roasted Tomato Soup before I hit "publish post" but I didn't want lose my blogging motivation. Ummm, lesson learned.

The soup, while tasty, isn't really soup. It's more like pasta or pizza sauce. I didn't strain it, thinking I would like it a little on the hearty side but... it tasted like eating a bowl of marinara. Well-flavored, fresh marinara, but marinara nonetheless.

So, if you decide to try the recipe, skip the grilled cheese and opt for some noodles or pizza fixins.

S'more Cupcakes

by Anne

So before we left Chicago last summer, my then-fiancé-now-husband and I threw a party. While I don’t usually speak for him, I can accurately say that we LOVE having parties, and since we were leaving we knew that this had to be a great shindig. Rising to the challenge, I made a massive batch of baked goods, including blonde brownies, cake mix snickerdoodles (recipe coming soon!) and s’more cupcakes.

The s’more cupcakes were new territory for me and I spent more hours than I should probably admit researching graham cake, marshmallow frosting recipes, and toasting strategies. And, just for the record, though I threatened to furiously copy down Martha’s graham cake recipe while “mindlessly” hanging out in the bookstore- I refrained. And committed no copyright infringement. Promise. 

I finally settled on a slightly altered version of this recipe and the results were pretty good. There’s no flour in the mix (just crushed up graham cracker) so the texture is a bit different from a traditional flour-based cake. But it was pretty good and very graham-y. 

Figuring out the topping turned out to be the most challenging part of the whole process. And, thanks to some fabulous friends/cupcake fans, I now have a culinary torch for just these kinds of situations. But no worries, I have a (fairly) foolproof technique for those who remain torch-less.

Once you’ve baked your cupcakes, follow these simple instructions for toasted marshmallow/gooey chocolate-ness that we all love:

• After your cupcakes have cooled (REALLY cooled-you don’t want the chocolate or marshmallow fluff melting prematurely), place a square or two of chocolate on the top of the cupcake.
• Pipe some marshmallow fluff on the cupcake like you would with any other buttercream/cream cheese frosting. You want to cover some, but not all of the chocolate. The graham cake is pretty delicate, and fluff can be difficult to spread, so I’d really recommend piping.  
• Toss the cupcakes in a toaster oven.  Try to use a setting that directs heat only to the top of the cupcakes (I used broil) because you really don’t want to be toasting the wrapper. I’d avoid the actual oven, or you’ll probably ended up burning the poor little guys like I did.  Of course, with the toaster oven technique, you can only do about three or four cupcakes at a time, but the final result is worth it. And totally reminiscent of marshmallows at a campfire.

I know it's not really the season for s'more-themed anything, but sometimes we just need a nice little reminder that winter is temporary, right? Either way, enjoy!

S'more Cupcakes

    •    2 2/3 cups of finely crushed graham crackers
    •    2/3 cup of finely chopped pecans (optional)
    •    1 1/3 tsp of baking soda
    •    1/8 tsp of nutmeg
    •    1/8 tsp of cinnamon
    •    3 tbsp. of butter
    •    2/3 cup of granulated sugar
    •    2/3 cup of light brown sugar
    •    5 eggs
    •    1 1/3 cup of sour cream
    •    1 1/2 tsp of vanilla

In a small bowl, combine the nutmeg, cinnamon, crushed grahams, nuts and soda. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and the sugars until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time and beat very well with each addition. Add vanilla. Add sour cream and crumb mixture alternately to the creamed mixture.

Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and fill to 3/4 with batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until the cake tests done.

Banana Nut Bread

by Anne

So, I’m not very good at eating bananas before they go bad. I am, however, excellent at eating banana bread before it goes bad. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, right folks?

This recipe was gifted to me at my wedding shower- and with a minor substitution here or there (it calls for chocolate and for some reason I’m not a huge fan of chocolate in my breakfast pastries), it makes the perfect loaf of banana bread. Trust me on this one, I have tried hundreds …ok, probably more like seven… different banana bread recipes and this one is stellar.

Banana Bread

• 1/2 cup butter
  
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vinegar (I used apple cider, white would work too)
• 1 c. mashed bananas (about 3 medium-sized bananas)
• 1 c. nuts (I used a mix of almonds, pecans and walnuts. Or, 1 c. of chocolate chips, if you like that kind of thing)

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla. Add eggs and beat well. In a medium bowl, sift flour with salt and baking soda, set aside. In a small bowl, make sour milk by combining vinegar and milk. Add sour milk alternately with flour to the creamed mixture. Stir in mashed bananas and nuts. Pour into two* greased and floured loaf pans. Top with a mixture of brown sugar and nuts, to taste.

*Make sure to split the batter between two loaf pans- this stuff is DENSE and one large pan will result in a mushy middle, over baked top, and a crabby baker. My husband can vouch for that.

Roasted Tomato Soup

by Anne


Anyone who’s ever been to Minnesota in the winter knows that it’s cold, snowy, and dark. And anyone who’s ever met me knows that those just happen to be three of my least favorite adjectives to describe the weather.

So to cope, there are a few small comforts like Starbucks coffee, toastie toes, and having a husband that doesn’t make fun of you when you wear your Snuggie to bed. Oh, and tomato soup. Homemade tomato soup, to be exact.

This recipe couldn’t be easier, really. Preheat your oven to 375. Cut 6 or so tomatoes in half and place them cut side down in a glass baking dish. Top with 6 garlic cloves- peeled and whole, 1 tsp. each oregano and basil, and half of a red onion, chopped. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar (the recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of each, but I didn’t measure), and sprinkle with salt and pepper until the whole thing looks like this:


Bake for 45 minutes or until it looks like this:


Let the pan cool for a few minutes, and use the time to heat 2 cups of chicken (or vegetable) stock in a large pot on the stove. When the tomato/onion/garlic bliss has cooled a bit, place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree. Once everything is nice and smooth, add the tomato mixture to the pot with the chicken stock. Stir in at least one can of tomato paste to thicken- feel free to add more for a denser consistency. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Oh and be sure to top with popcorn before serving. Trust me on this one.

Roasted Tomato Soup (adapted from this recipe)

• 6-8 tomatoes (I used a 6 roma and 2 big boy)
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and whole
• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• salt
• pepper
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 can tomato paste

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut tomatoes in half and place in a shallow baking dish cut side down. Top with onion, garlic, oregano and basil. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 45 minutes. Place roasted vegetables in food processor bowl or blender and begin puree. Heat chicken stock in a large pot on the stovetop. Add roasted tomato puree to the stock pot. Stir in tomato paste to thicken, if desired. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes.