Coffee Cake

I’ve made this coffee cake recipe a few times and always get great reviews. I typically make it in a 13×9 pan, but have made it into 2 round cakes before when I wanted to split the recipe between friends…shh don’t tell!

Coffee Cake

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 box cake mix – yellow or white (I used white because that is what I had…maybe yellow would be better)
• 1 6oz package instant vanilla pudding
• 1 c sour cream
• 3/4 c hot water
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 c vegetable oil
• 1 t vanilla

Cinnamon Swirl:

• 1/2 c packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• Nuts optional

Crumb Topping:

• 1/4 c granulated sugar
• 1/3 c light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1 1/3 c all purpose flour
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Glaze:

• Powdered sugar
• Milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13×9 baking pan.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix and pudding.
• Mix in sour cream and hot water. Batter will be thick.
• Add in eggs, vanilla and oil, mix well and try to rid of all lumps.
• In a separate bowl combine cinnamon and brown sugar.
• Spread half of the cake batter into baking pan. Top with brown sugar and cinnamon mixture and then spread the remaining cake batter on top. With a knife or skewer swirl the batter and brown sugar mixture to spread throughout cake.
• For the crumb topping, combine sugars, cinnamon and flour. Stir in melted butter. Mixture will be very thick.
• With your fingers, crumble the topping over the cake.
• Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes. My oven took 45 minutes and then I turned off the oven and left the cake in there an additional 10 minutes.
• Before serving, mix together powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over cake.

 

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

April is full of birthdays in my office so I am a busy little bee baking. I made some carrot cake cupcakes for the first time and everyone seemed to enjoy them. I did not eat these and actually have never tasted carrot cake oddly enough. I figure why add one more dessert I might crave to the list if I don’t have to.

I was searching online for a recipe and then my Aunt Edna came to the rescue by sending me hers. I changed the recipe slightly by adding a little nutmeg and ground ginger.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 t baking soda
• 1 t salt
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t ground ginger
• 1 1/4 cups oil (canola or vegetable)
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups grated carrots (about equal to a 1lb bag)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350. Grease cake pans or line cupcake pans with paper liners.
• Stir together dry ingredients. Mix in oil and eggs until incorporated.
• Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared pans.
• Bake cupcakes for about 14 minutes. My aunt said she does 3 layers for about 35 minutes each.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (my go-to frosting)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• 1 160z/1lb box powdered sugar
• 1 to 2 t vanilla (I use a little extract and a little vanilla bean paste to get the bean specks)

Directions:

• In large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese.
• Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla.
• Beat on high speed for a few minutes until light and fluffy.

Hands Free Risotto

I love risotto and have posted my recipe before on the blog. The only downside to making it the old fashioned way as it takes a while and it is tedious having to stir constantly. I saw this recipe on America’s Test Kitchen and finally gave it a try. I will never go back to my old recipe again! This was the perfect consistency with 1/4 of the work!!

Risotto (adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)

Ingredients:

• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 T butter or olive oil
• 1 large onion , chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1  garlic clove , minced
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 1 cup dry white wine
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt and Pepper

Directions:

• In a medium sized pot, mix together chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer to keep warm.
• Meanwhile, in a large pot or dutch oven, saute onion with butter/olive oil over medium heat. Once onion is softened, add in garlic and saute 30 seconds or so. Stir in rice and cook, stirring frequently about 3 minutes. Add some salt and pepper.
• Add in wine and stir constantly until fully absorbed. Stir 5 cups of broth mixture into rice, reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Allow to cook for about 20 minutes, or until almost all liquid is fully absorbed. Stir twice during cooking.
• Once the liquid is all but absorbed, stir in 3/4 cups of the remaining hot broth mixture. Stir constantly until risotto becomes creamy, about 3 minutes. Stir in parmesan (I used about 1/3 cup but use more or less to your liking. Recipe called for 1 cup). Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes.
• If the risotto is too thick, add in a little more of the broth. Otherwise, serve and enjoy!
• I added roasted asparagus, grilled chicken breast, and a little extra parmesan….delicious!

Strawberry Yogurt Cake

I saw this cake on Pinterest and made it for an office birthday. It was a hit so hopefully you will find the time to make it too. I used frozen strawberries but if you have fresh I’m sure they would be great, or even trying it with raspberries or blueberries.

Strawberry Yogurt Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 T lemon juice, divided
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 1/2 cups flour, divided
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 8 oz plain greek yogurt (or I bet you could sub sour cream if you don’t have yogurt)
• 12 oz strawberries, diced
• Glaze – see below

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a bundt pan or I’m sure it would do well in loaf pans.
• Sift together 2 1/4 cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in lemon zest. (Note – I usually add less salt than called for in a recipe if I am using salted butter)
• Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well each time. Stir in 1 T lemon juice.
• Add the dry ingredients and greek yogurt alternately, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
• Toss the strawberries with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. I forgot this step and added in all of the flour at once so not a big deal if you do too.
• Spread batter into bundt pan and bake for 60 minutes. Mine wasn’t completely set on top so I turned the oven off after 1 hour and left in there for 10 more minutes.
• Allow to cool in pan about 20 minutes and then turn out onto a plate. Once cooled top with glaze and enjoy!

Glaze

Ingredients:

• 2 T lemon juice
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

• Stir together ingredients until smooth and slightly runny. Add a little extra lemon juice or water if it is thick.
• Spoon over top of cake so that it runs down the sides.

Bailey’s Chocolate Cupcakes

I needed some cupcakes for an office party last week and decided to experiment with adding Bailey’s Irish Cream to my cupcake batter and frosting. These were a hit and this is a super easy semi-homemade recipe! Surprisingly enough, I resisted eating these…talk about will power!

Bailey’s Chocolate Cupcake

Ingredients

• 1 chocolate cake mix
• Buttermilk
• Oil
• Eggs
• 1/3 cup Baileys

Directions:

• Follow the directions on your cake mix box, but substitute buttermilk for the liquid called for, in equal amounts. I read this one time and now make the switch every time I use a cake mix. Add in the called for amount of oil and eggs and mix until combined.
• Stir in 1/3 cup Baileys.
• Scoop into lined cupcake tins about 2/3 of the way full.
• Bake according to directions, likely at 350 for 16 minutes or so. Allow to cool before frosting.

Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• 1 80z package cream cheese, softened
• 1 box powdered sugar (4 cups)
• 1/4 cup Baileys, or more
• 1 t vanilla

Directions:

• In a large bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add in powdered sugar and mix until incorporated.
• Stir in Bailey’s and vanilla. If the Bailey’s flavor isn’t strong enough for you, keep adding a little more (I think I may have ended up with 1/3 to 1/2 cups at the end!)
• Beat on high for a few minutes until frosting is light and fluffy.

Lasagna Soup

I have seen versions of this soup floating around pinterest lately and last night gave it a try. We were pleasantly surprised with this recipe, and it was a great healthier substitute for actual lasagna. Since the hubs is a cheese lover, his got topped with lots of mozzarella (pictured above), whereas I opted for just some parmesan to keep it lighter.

I ended up using Paula Deen’s recipe. Her son Bobby now has this show that takes her recipes and puts a healthier twist on them. He did so for this recipe, but I don’t think it needed it and mom knows best right? I plugged the original recipe into my ww points calculator and it is only 5 points per serving (not including any cheese you put on top) which is fantastic!

Lasagna Soup (Serves 8, 5 points per serving)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef (93/7)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 lasagna noodles, broken into pieces
• 2 14.5 oz cans chicken stock
• 2 14.5 oz cans petite diced tomatoes
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 T sugar
• 1 T italian seasoning
• 1 t thyme
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan (the Kraft kind in a bottle)
• Shredded mozzarella and parmesan for topping (not included in points)

Directions:

• In a large pot, brown ground beef, onion, pepper, and garlic and drain well when cooked.
• Add in chicken stock, tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, and seasonings. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium or medium low to simmer for 20 minutes.
• Add in lasagna noodle pieces and continue simmering so the noodles will cook. Stir in grated parmesan cheese. Once the noodles are tender, spoon soup into oven safe bowl.
• Preheat broiler. Top soup with desired cheeses, if any, and stick under the broiler for a couple minutes until cheese is melted and slightly browned.

Miaggi Beans

There is a restaurant in town that serves amazing green beans. The waitress says they are made with soy sauce and sesame oil. I tried my own version and while they aren’t the “real” thing, they are pretty tasty. Great way to change up one of my favorite vegetables!

Sauteed Green Beans (adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb fresh green beans, ends snapped off
• 1 t olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 t sesame oil
• Salt and pepper
• Toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

• Heat olive oil in skillet until just smoking (nonstick if you have one). Add in beans, salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes or until beans start to get brown spots.
• Add in water and cover, allowing to cook for about 2 minutes. This should turn the beans brighter green. Remove cover and cook another minute or so until all water evaporates.
• Add soy sauce and sesame oil and cook another couple minutes – beans should end up crisp and tender. Toss with sesame seeds and serve.