Mini NY Cheesecakes

Traditional Turkish cooking

The next few weeks, rather than solely focusing on baking, I'll be delving more into the world of cooking. Cooking that my mum and the women of my family know by heart. Cooking I have no idea how to do.

Stay tuned. This should be interesting.

-Denise

Don't count your muffins until they're baked

Yesterday I wrote about my creative outlet and how baking and cooking has become just that.
I wrote about how I wanted to bake cinnamon muffins - I'm not entirely sure why I chose to bake cinnamon ones but I did.  I think it had to do with a slight craving for gingerbread cookies (I'm the WORST at baking cookies, fyi).

They turned out quite delicious, when heated up and buttered up.  If you don't like your muffins heated and buttered, well you're truly missing out.

Anyhow, I suppose I should get on with the recipe, hey?

The Recipe:

1 cup                                   flour

3/4 teaspoon        baking powder

1/4 teaspoon             baking soda

1 teaspoon                    cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon                        ginger

a teansy bit of allspice 

a teansy bit of cloves (1 or 2 or 3?)

1/4 teaspoon                            salt

1/4 cup                       brown sugar 

2                                             eggs

2             tablespoons maple syrup

3-6 tablespoons                       milk  

2 tablespoons                        butter

Preheat oven to 350° degrees.

Ready with all of your ingredients?  Okay!  Blend all dry ingredients together.  

Add all liquid-y ingredients to the dry.

MIX.

Grease up your baking pan, I used butter, but it's completely up to you (Pam, cooking oil -work just as fine).  

Spoon batter approximately 2/3s full and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Done!

-Enjoy

eggs IN toast.

I woke up this morning, feeling kind of....grumpy.  All I've done lately is school, school, school.  Aside from baking. But things just seem very, boring?  Yeah, I'd say that's the right word.  Boring.  Maybe even repetitive.

So, I thought I'd change it up a little bit.  I'm not morning food person.  Actually, that could almost be deemed a lie.  I love pancakes and waffles and bowls of delicious fruit, even oatmeal.  Not bland oatmeal, oatmeal with maple syrup and brown sugar, or apple cinnamon.  Mmm.  However, when it comes to eggs and cereal.  I gag.  I don't know why, but eggs, especially eggs, make me want to throw up.  I don't mind so much if they're covered in stuff to the point that I can't taste that gross eggy taste, but if they're not.  Gross.

You're probably thinking "Okay?  I swear I see eggs in the picture....".  Well, you do.  I was reading a blog last night, in bed, when I ended up coming across a woman around my age saying she used to hate eggs, but she decided to give them another shot.  In my mind I was thinking, "Oh my!  How bold of her!!!" (no sarcasm!!).  It made me realize that I haven't had eggs in years.  And if she could do it, so could I!

Yeah, ...no.  I made myself eggs and toast.  Eggs IN toast.  I made them all pretty, cut out stars in each and even topped them off with salt, pepper and feta.  They looked good and I was excited!

Big mistake.  Gag gag gag.  I'm not an egg person.  I cannot do it.  I can't venture out of my comfort zone, which I thought I could do.  I like trying different things, different foods, different drinks.  Eggs are just not my thing.

If you have any suggestions on how I could POSSIBLY become an egg enthusiast, let me know.  Otherwise...

Forever an egg hater,
-D

PS
I did finish one whole piece of egg in toast.  Just to let you know:).

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Last night I said that I'd post the recipe for the red velvet cupcakes I made.  Let me just tell you, they're to die for.  Mind you, anything with cream cheese icing is to die for, you don't have to agree, but I guarantee, most of you do.

I'll keep this short and sweet.

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

After working on homework ALL day yesterday, I decided to give myself a little break.  I wanted to relax, have a glass (or two) of red wine and bake.  And that's exactly what I did.  A girl friend and I got together last night and decided on what kind of cupcakes we wanted to bake.  Well, I'll be honest, I decided what kind of cupcakes we should bake.  I wanted chocolate, I wanted strawberry filling and I wanted cupcakes.  Fairly straight forward, I think.

As always, I found a recipe I was interested in and tweaked it.  My mum had a bunch of Martha Stewart recipes she had printed off, so I found one that interested me, called the "Hi-Hat".  I really think the name grabbed my attention more than the cupcakes, haha.

Anyhow..Here's what these bad boys turned out like

The recipe ...

Cinnamon Donuts with a Raspberry Lemon Glaze

SO! The baking experiment is done. Done done done!

I was originally going to make these donuts a banana and cinnamon however, when I started I completely forgot about the banana, hehe. Regardless, I'm impressed. Excellent recipe that I found on Butterflyfood.  I may have tweaked a couple of things to make them what I wanted, but essentially that recipe is what inspired me.

Here's my version

Cinnamon donuts with a raspberry & lemon glaze

The Recipe:

Donuts

3 to 4 tablespoons      active dry yeast

2 ½ tablespoons         granulated sugar

1 cup                          water

1                                egg beaten

1/3 cup                       butter, melted

1 teaspoon                  vanilla extract

3 teaspoons                cinnamon

1 teaspoon                  nutmeg

½ teaspoon                 salt

3 to 5 cups                  flour

In a bowl mix together the yeast and and 1 cup water (warm!) – let it sit for approximately five or so minutes, or until you notice that it has a foamed up top layer.  Add the egg, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and salt..Mix! 

Now slowly start adding the flour, I say 3 to 5 cups because lets be honest, my “cup” may be different than yours…Even though I used a generic dry measuring cup, you may fill differently.  As you continue to do this, pay attention to whether or not it’s sticky.  Once you can touch the dough without getting physically attached to it, you’re done!

Now knead and roll out the dough to about ¼ to ½ an inch thick and cut out your donut shapes.  I used two different sized jars as I didn’t have the patience to actually cut lol.  Once you’ve done this, leave them for half an hour or so to rise. 

Fry in oil.  Your choice.  I used grape seed oil, however typically canola oil is used (from what I’ve read).  Turn them once, to ensure both sides have cooked and place on paper towel to remove excess oil.  Voila!  And there you have it.  Pretty simple, eh?

Now for the glaze….

1 cup              granulated sugar

¼ cup             confectioners sugar

¼ cup             water

1 teaspoon      vanilla extract

3 teaspoons     raspberry jam

3 teaspoons     fresh lemon juice

There are a few ways to make glazes.  Unfortunately for me, I ran out of confectioners sugar.  However, I made due with what I had.

First begin by boiling the water, add the sugar and lower heat to just below the half way point.  Mix well so that the sugar has dissolved.  Once this is done, add confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, raspberry jam and lemon juice.

Done.

I hope you enjoy :).  I know I definitely did.

-d.

The Baking Experiment

Today is a homework and study day, you're all probably like, "okay........?", well in my world this means I don't leave the house.  I brew myself some coffee, eat lunch, and start reading the marvelous Accounting textbook that I adore OH SO MUCH.   Not.  So, like many professors say, "study for an hour, take a break, repeat".  My break for today will consist of baking, like it has the last couple of weeks.  Yay:).

What's my baking experiment for today?

A quick and easy brunch, lunch or dinner

I've realized lately that I don't cook much at home.  When I'm not studying, I'm usually out and about and always grab something to eat at a restaurant or something of the sort.  And when I am studying...well I usually just snack on almonds or popcorn, and tons of coffee.  I figured, I should start to change that nasty habit of mine.

While going through some recipes on a couple of websites -which I'll list at the end- I decided to make quiche.  I've never made quiche before.  After deciding that, I had no idea what would be the "best" recipe.  What I did know is that I wanted to combine a couple of ingredients.  So rather than following one specific recipe I kind of did my own thing :).

The Recipe:

12 tablespoons  bread crumbs
1 cup diced up honey ham
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup spinach leaves (or 6 or so leaves)
1/3 cup green pepper
4 large eggs, 2 egg whites
2 tablespoons chopped onion (you could use green onion too, if you so choose)
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375°degrees

Spray bottom and sides of cupcake pan with olive oil and sprinkle each cup with one tablespoon bread crumbs (crust for the quiche!).  Gently shake so that it is evenly distributed.

Place ham, green peppers, spinach and cheese into each cup.  I made some with just ham, spinach and cheese and others with everything.  The cupcake pan is perfect!

In a medium bowl beat eggs and egg whites, continue by beating in the cream, milk, salt & pepper, dijon and onion.  You may choose to put the cheese into this mixture rather than in the individual cups, however I chose not to and it turned out fantastic.

Bake for approximately 20 to 30 minutes, or until they are firm.

A great dinner with a side of salad!!  Healthy too:)  Well, somewhat.

"When life gives you lemons... just bake some lemon cupcakes."

After an incredibly stressful day of accounting homework (gosh is it ever tedious!) I decided to bake some cupcakes.
I've found that lately I am baking more and more. It's probably the best stress reliever yet, aside from going for 5km walks with my Australian shepherd-Mila.
I can be creative with what I bake, typically cupcakes. The best part is decorating them. Some days, depending on my free time, I go all out and other days...well, I stick to somewhat simplistic ideas. Regardless, the outcome is always delicious.
Today's cupcake was a rather basic vanilla cupcake, with grates of lemon zest to give it a little kick and just an easy to do vanilla icing. With more lemon zest sprinkled on top.


The Recipe:
1 1/2 cups all purpose four
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 fine sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup whole milk, room temperature
1/2 tablespoon lemon zest (one may add more - purely personal preference:))

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line a cupcake pan with wrappers.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing just until blended. Beat in vanilla. Add the flour mixture and milk; mix thoroughly. Add the lemon zest and again mix thoroughly.

Fill each cup 2/3 full and bake for 18-24 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely and frost as desired. Makes 12 cupcakes.


By far, the most delicious. That may be because I'm a huge lemon fan :).

-d.