I joined up with my friend Ann this past weekend to bake cookies with a group of kids from lower-income homes.While holiday tunes played, we rolled out, cut, iced and tossed sprinkles on Sugar, Moravian, and Gingerbread cookies. After our three-hour bake-a-thon the floors were covered with sprinkles, I was wearing a good bit of flour and platters were piled high with an array of glittering cookies that filled our little bakers with pride.The whole experience was great fun!
You may remember way back in the spring when I mentioned that I was redoing my kitchen. Well, the project kicked off Memorial Day weekend. It proved to be a long summer of coordinating contractors, choosing paint colors and moving furniture, but as Labor Day approaches I am more than happy to say the work is done! Thought you might like to see a few of the project pictures.
The Before picture.
The cabinets came out in less than an hour.
Painting is done, new cabinets are installed and the floor gets sanded.
The floors get sealed so Buddy, Bella and I camp out to avoid the fumes.
No kitchen meant lots of outdoor cooking.
Appliances arrive, countertops are installed, the tile work goes up and I am done!!
In just days work crews arrive and demolish and remodel my kitchen.It struck me today as I was baking that this might be the last time I bake in my oven, which has served me faithfully for fifteen years. (I still remember the first cake I baked in this oven.It was chocolate and I iced it with a vanilla cream.)
To commemorate the departure of my oven, I had to snap a picture of my banana bread, which I’ve made hundreds of times over the years.This banana is very basic and quick but it perfumes the house with a sweet scent and there is no beating the taste when it’s hot out of the oven.
Banana Bread
1 to 1-1/2 cups ripe banana
1 tsp rum extract
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/4 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Mash bananas in a bowl then add extract, eggs, vegetable oil and sugar.Mix well.Sift flour, baking powder and salt into banana mixture and stir until combined.Place the batter in a greased loaf or bunt pan and bake in a pre-heated 350-degree oven for about 50-60 minutes. (If you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean, the bread is ready.)Let the bread cool for a few minutes before turning out onto a platter.When its completely cooled, I either dust with powdered sugar or drizzle melted jam or very soft cream cheese icing over the top.
In celebration of Fat Tuesday I decided to make a King Cake.Turns out the cake isn’t so much a cake as a bread, but that doesn’t stand in the way of the dessert being delicious.Here’s my version of King Cake.
Dough
Into the bread maker put:
3 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
One cup milk less a tablespoon
¼ cup melted butter
2-1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast (which goes in your bread maker’s yeast dispenser)
When the dough is ready, roll it out into a long thing rectangle and then fill with:
Filling
¼ cup softened butter
¾ cup brown sugar.
Mix butter and sugar into a paste and then spread on the dough.Roll the dough up jellyroll fashion and then shape into a large circle.
Bake the King Cake for 15-18 minutes in a 350-degree oven.Ice with your favorite vanilla icing.My favorite go-to icing includes:
Icing
¼ cup softened cream cheese
¼ cup of softened butter
1-1/2 cups of confectioner’s sugar
Milk as needed (about a 1/2 cup)
Whisk cream cheese and butter together and then alternately add confectioner’s sugar and milk. I mix in just enough milk to make the icing easy to pour but not runny.
Decorate with yellow, green and blue colored sugars!
I love to have these for my sweetie on Valentine’s Day.I make up the dough in my bread maker the night before, assemble the buns and then let them rise in the refrigerator.I also mix up the icing before I go to bed.A couple of hours before breakfast, I set the pans on the counter to rise (double is size) and then I bake in a 350 degree oven for 18-20 minutes.While they’re warm, pour the glaze over them.
Simple and so delicious!
Dough
3 ¼ cups of flour
¾ teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup of sugar
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon of vanilla
¾ cup of water
1/4 cup of low fat sour cream
¼ cup of melted butter
1 package of dry yeast
Filling
¾ cups of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Glaze
1 cup of powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons of milk
For fun I baked this batch in a heart shaped pan.
Place all the ingredients in the dough maker (yeast goes in the yeast dispenser).Once the dough is ready, place on a floured surface and roll out into a large rectangle—about ¼ an inch thick. Sprinkle brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts on the dough.Roll the dough in a long spiral and then slice into individual portions.Place dough on a large greased pan.Give the rolls plenty of room to rise and spread.(If you’re prepping for tomorrow’s breakfast, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.In the morning a couple of hours before breakfast, place pans of uncooked rolls in a warm place and let them rise.) When they’ve risen to twice their original size, bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes.While they are warm, pour glaze over top and serve.
Just returned from the Outer Banks of North Carolina where Buddy, Bella and I celebrated Thanksgiving with my aunts, uncles and cousins.Unlike most clans, our crew doesn’t just eat the big meal on turkey day.No, we have a three-day food extravaganza that starts at Aunt Lydia’s and Uncle Sam’s for the traditional Thursday Thanksgiving feast.We have it all—sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole, creamed onions, and of course lots of gravy.On Friday the star is the Oyster Roast where neighbors and friends gather to enjoy each other’s company, dozens of cover dish delights and bushels of freshly steamed oysters. We wrap up the three day gathering at Aunt Sally’s and Uncle Mike’s for spare ribs, corn on the cob, corn bread and more deserts than I can name. Needless to say, I won’t miss Weight Watcher’s on Wednesday.
Aunt Lydia’s Lemon Graham Cracker Crust Pie
Aunt Lydia uses a store bought crust but if you want to make your own she's given directions.
Crust
2 c. graham crackers, crushed
1/3 c. butter
Filling
½ c lemon juice
1 t grated lemon or ¼ t lemon extract
1 1/3 c. sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs separated (use the yolk in the filling and save white for the meringue)
4 T sugar
Meringue
¼ t Cream of Tartar
¼ t vanilla
2 reserved egg whites
Directions.Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
To make the crust, crush the Graham crackers and mix with melted butter.Line a pie shell with the mixture and refrigerate until cool. To mix pie filling, combine lemon juice and grated lemon rind or lemon extract and gradually stir in sweetened condensed milk.Add egg yokes and stir until well blended.Pour into pie shell. To make the meringue, add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat with a hand mixer or whisk until whites hold a peak).Add sugar and beat until stiff, but not dry.Gently fold in vanilla and then pile on top of filling.Bake for 15 minutes.Cool and serve.
