GourmAndrea

Pumpkin Seed Butter Muffins

I recently saw some pumpkin seed butter and was intrigued so I picked some up. I found it interesting but I wasn't crazy about it replacing my other nut butters on a bagel and decided to look at using it in baking.  I just went with a choc chip/peanut butter muffin recipe and they turned out quite good. They are a little more green than the pictures give off, quite fitting for this time of year. The only change I would make next time is to use a little more sugar or more likely just add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. These are quite dense muffins but they are not heavy they have a crumbly/buttery texture.

Pumpkin Seed Butter Muffins makes-12

2 1/4 cups flour (I used two cups all purpose and 1/4 cup cake and pastry)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup brown sugar

6 tbbp butter, melted then cooled

1/2cup pumpkin seed butter

2 eggs

1 cup milk

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1.) Preheat oven to 375F

2.) In a large bowl whisk together flour,baking powder,salt and sugar( *note if you use cinnamon add 1/2 tsp here).

3.) In a small bowl whisk together butter,eggs,milk and pumpkin seed butter.

4.) Make a well in dry ingredients then stir in wet until just combined then fold in chocolate chips.

5.) Bake for 17 to 20 min until they spring back when touched lightly in center. 

I will play around more with this in the future see how well it does in granola bars and cookies.

Almond Cranberry Loaf With White Chocolate Glaze

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

This months challenge was quick bread which I am so thankful for an easy challenge with a young baby I am lucky to shower and get dinner on the table most days :)  I decided to go with a cranberry almond white chocolate loaf, it tastes as good as it sounds. There is a fair amount of almond extract which might not be for everyone but I really like it. This recipe was a 2009 Wisconsin State Fair Creative Cranberry Cooking Contest
Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association and was submitted by:Susan Nekich, Milwaukee.

Almond Cranberry  Loaf With White Chocolate Glaze

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup butter melted

1 1/2 tsp almond extract

2/3 cup toasted almonds, chopped

Glaze:

1/4 cup white chocolate broken into smaller pieces

3 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tbsp vanilla flavored coffee creamer

zest of one lemon

1.) Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan set aside.

2.) In a large bowl whisk together flour,sugar,baking powder and salt.

 3.) In a medium bowl whisk together eggs,butter,buttermilk,almond extract.

4.) Make a well in the dry ingredients and then pour the wet ingredients into the center mix until just incorporated then fold in almonds and cranberries, it will be quite thick.

5.) Put in loaf pan and cook for 75 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6.) Cool in pan on rack for 10 min then invert on rack to cool completely. When cool make glaze: melt chocolate on low power in microwave then add creamer and powder sugar add more sugar if it need to be thicker or more creamer to thin it out to desired thickness. Drizzle on loaf then sprinkle lemon zest on top.

Red Velvet Cake-Joy Of Baking

Be My Valentine?

I got this recipe from the Joy Of Baking site the recipe can be found here. I wanted to make something for my sweetie for Valentines Day and what better than Red Velvet? I used swedish berries and pretzels to decorate the cake and they actually went really well with the flavor profile of the cake?! who knew. The icing is wicked a mix of cream cheese,marsacapone,conf sugar and whipping cream a little different than the usual. I would recommend chilling the cakes before icing then doing a thin (crumb coat) on the sides and top then chilling and finishing with remaining icing it just gives a cleaner finish.

 

Cinnamon-Swirl Raisin Bread-Fine Cooking

This recipe is from the recent Fine Cooking the Feb/Mar 2012 magazine. I was SO looking forward to making this recipe and I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it was a real let down. The cinnamon is too overpowering to the point I wonder if they made a mistake??(3 tbsp of cinnamon per loaf!) It is so strong it takes on a spicy tone without enough sugar to balance it. I did a simple glaze on it hoping to fix it but it still lacks what I was hoping for. The raisins that are on the outside of the loaf have a burnt taste to them, anyways I will keep lookin........ anyone who has one they love let me know:)

Rolo Cookies

MMmmm These are my favorite cookies, I adore them! They are soft brownie like cookies and they have a Rolo chocolate tucked away in the center; genious! :) I got this recipe from my Alley-Mate (Thank you Delta!) she brought some over at Christmas and she had them in the cutest gingerbread man baggies that I assumed they were commercial (and wondered why commercial cookies tasted good) and asked her where she bought them. But alas here and her mom make them every year and she was kind enough to give me the recipe yay! I think I may make them at Halloween with all the extra chocolates I have because I did some with Reeses and some with Caramilks this time and they were all super good.

ROLO COOKIES

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

40 Rolo Candies (4 rolls)

A bit of sugar for rolling  cookies in

Large bar of white chocolate for dizzling tops

1.) Preheat oven to 375F

2.) In a small bowl combine flour,cocoa,baking soda blend well.

3.) In a large bowl beat sugar,brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy add eggs then vanilla; beat well. blend in flour mixture.

4.) Use 1 tbsp of dough for each cookie then wrap around Rolo Candy and roll tops in sugar.

5.) Bake for 7 to 10 min on ungreased cookie sheet or a parchment lined sheet.

6.) When cool drizzle with white chocolate (if chocolate is taking awhile to set put it in fridge for 20 min or so.) 

*Note: I would prep and shape these then let them sit for about 30 min before baking I found the rise and shape were much better on the cookies that rested awhile