Caffienated Goodness

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It's been so hard to get my butt over to Starbucks or Barnes and Noble for the wi-fi for my computer. Poor lonely little laptop sitting on my bookshelf with wonderous photos just waiting to be uploaded and posted!

*sigh*

Well this morning I decided to make my own coffee. I have some of Target's house blend in my pantry and I like to add odd ingredients to it. This morning's concoction was 2 tablespoons of coffee grounds, a pinch of lavender buds and a light sprinkling of cinnamon brewed in 5 cups of ice cold water. I poured it over some honey to sweeten it, ooooooh was it yummy!

So experiment with your coffee! You may be surprised!

Cajun Snickerdoodles

Last week I brushed up on my Cajun cooking. I made blackened snickerdoodles! So deliciously black, crunchy and chalky!



*sob*

Rookie mistake.. I used Pam non-stick cooking spray to coat the cookie sheet in leiu of butter. Bangs head against keyboard in shame.

Kyle, bless him, still ate them.



We attacked the cookies, picking them apart to unearth what was edible. Those parts were pretty tasty at least! And three whole cookies were saved from the same toasty fate as their siblings!



I'll attempt these delicious treats again soon, this time not using honey and using BUTTER to coat the cookie sheet!

Fifty!!

Huzzah to Post Number 50! And what a perfect way to hit 50 it is!



My momma needs some cheering up. What do I do? Make her cupcakes! Cupcakes always cheer people up, right?

That’s what I thought! It’ll turn her frown upside down!

I just knew that the recipe I spotted from Cupcake Project for Black Bottom Cupcakes with Goat Cheese would be the perfect thing! I added some cinnamon to the goat cheese mixture and cut the recipe in half so I wouldn’t be swimming in cupcakes.



Hmm… synchronized cupcake swimming… Think it’ll catch on?

Black Bottom Cupcakes with Goat Cheese
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoons almond extract
3 tablespoons milk
2 1/2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted

4 ounces goat cheese
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Half a beaten egg
Handful of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and baking powder. In a kitchen aid mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, yogurt, extract and milk. Beat in chocolate, then slowly add in flour mixture until well mixed. Fill cupcake liners until 2/3 full. Clean mixer bowl and beater, then return to mixer. Beat together goat cheese, egg, sugar and cinnamon until well combined, then toss in chocolate chips. Top each cupcake with a heaping tablespoon of the mixture. Bake for 30 minutes.

Challah Swirl

Happy long weekend to you all! I love this time of year. Everyone fires up their grills and cooks up some awesome grub, Bobby Flay style! I love Bobby Flay, he's so fun to watch. I caught his story on that "Behind the Chef" thing on the Food Network one day, such an amazing story, too. You should try to watch it sometime!

Sadly I don't own a grill. I know enough people that do have one to sustain me for a while I believe. =) Such as my parents with their awesome grilled quesadillas!



My recipe has nothing to do with grills or meat, however. Oooh I just got an idea. When I get my own grill I could bake it in there! Perhaps it would first be a better idea to learn to not burn a hot dog on the grill as my first outdoor chef-ing experience..

I've been searching for a bread recipe that doesn't seem too complicated for my novice bread-making hands to conquer. After getting an email about 55 Knives, a blogging cookbook that was put together and just came out for download, I noticed one contribution was from a blog named Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy. I giggled at the name and browsed around her site. I stumbled upon a post for Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Challah. Now I've never had challah before. That I can remember. But it looked so good... this was my ticket!



I mixed up the ingredients and leaving it to rise while I watched my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dvds (the original tv series, mind you) and had an unfortunate little mishap. Despite the 90 degree weather we've been having, the one day I decide to make bread the temperature decides to drop to the 60s. Two hours later when I checked on the dough, it had definitely not doubled in size. I moved it to sit on my dinky little warm oven where it promptly rose the way a nice yeast bread should. Good little bread **pat, pat**. I didn't have time for the rolling process until today, but the recipe said I could leave the dough in the fridge for up to 5 days before I'd have to freeze it.



Now as far as the filling goes, I used three different options. Since I made only half of the recipe, I made some mini loaves. One with goat cheese and a jalapeno-peach "jam" I made up on the stove, one with cinnamon and coffee, and one cinnamon raisin. I had a few problems with the centers of the last loaves baking through, but humidity is a killer. Next time I'll just have to have the air on!



Challah Swirl Bread
(half recipe: makes 2 regular sized loaves)
1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons lukewarm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 large eggs, whisked
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup melted butter (or canola oil)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

From here I just followed the directions posted on Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy (I linked the page a little earlier). She has great step by step instructions written up!

Cinnamon Coffee Muffins

Nothing better than the morning coffee, eh?



After waking up at 5:00 this morning for the hour long group PT session at my gym, I still had 2 hours to kill before work. This is after getting showered and dressed. So what do I do?

Bake of course!

Maybe they have a bake-a-holics anonymous group I could join.

I adapted my Cherry Ginger Muffin recipe and made a bunch of mini muffins plus one regular sized muffin. Why the regular sized muffin? Well I ran out of space in the mini muffin pan and didn't want to wait until the first batch was done to reuse it!



I love the deliciously warm scent baking cinnamon leaves in the air. Combine that cinnamon with the smell of fresh coffee? I'm hooked.



I stacked up these yummy mini muffins in a nice little container and toted them off to work! Hooray for low fat treats!

Cinnamon Coffee Muffins
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup raisin bran cereal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coffee grounds
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon water
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a mini muffin pan with the little liners and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together flours, cereal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, whisk together coffee grounds, coffee, canola oil, water and egg. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in coffee mixture and stir until just combined. Fill muffin liners until almost completely full. Bake 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

A New Take on the Bean Cake

I have this one really awesome ingredient in my cabinet.



Oops haha! I didn't notice that "keep refrigerated" type on there before.. oh well!

Anyway, I wanted to make something with these little guys! The poor things were starting to feel neglected, having lived in my cabinet for 3 months! As luck would have it, I remembered seeing a recipe for a garbanzo bean cake.

"Why couldn't I do the same with my adzukis??"

Well I could! And I did!

TADA!!



Man-o-man-o-man this cake is so moist and delicious! Who'd have thunk it?? Plus it has pretty speckles, contains lots of fiber AND it's gluten free!



Adzuki Cinnamon Cake
1 cup adzuki beans, cooked and drained
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup pineapple juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a one pound loaf pan and dust with granulated sugar.

Puree beans in food processor until smooth - mine were of a crumbly consistency since the beans were a bit on the al dente side. Pour beans into a large bowl; stir in eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and pineapple juice until well combined. Pour mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. After removing from the oven, sprinkle a pinch of kosher salt on top. Cool thoroughly, slice and serve!

Mango Lassi

I was watching the Food Network yesterday and saw a guest on Bobby Flay's Grill It make a mango lassi. My mouth started watering.. then it hit me: I have a mango at home! And some yogurt! I don't have cardamom, but cinnamon will work.. done! So yesterday afternoon I whipped one up. It was pretty delish, let me tell you. There's no photo because the mug I put it in was camera shy. Next time I'll post a picture!

Mango Lassi
1/2 mango, cubed
5 tablespoons milk (more if you like it a bit thinner)
4 tablespoons plain yogurt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger
Agave nectar to taste

Add all ingredients in blender and puree until smooth. Pour over ice and enjoy!

Almond Sesame Truffles

So I didn't exactly measure out amounts in this recipe, so its more of an idea booster! Plus the picture was gorgeous and I wanted to use it! This recipe was inspired by the Sesame Seed Truffle recipe on Elana's Pantry. I took some tahini paste and combined it with some awesome ingredients to produce these decadent little treats. It was just an experimental recipe and only made about ten truffles. I brought them to a family gathering and those who were brave enough to try them enjoyed them (my family is a bit odd on the texture front). So here is my "sort-of" recipe!

Almond Sesame Truffles
3 tablespoons tahini paste
1/2 cup almonds
4 dried figs
1 teaspoon (give or take) milk
Agave nectar to taste
Mixture of unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, and cinnamon (to your tastes)

Mix tahini paste, almonds, figs, milk, and agave nectar in food processor until a smooth paste is formed. Refridgerate overnight. Roll mixture into balls and roll in cocoa powder mixture. Serve immediately - they're more firm when cold

Molasses Globs

It's that time of the month.. the time to send Kyle goodies through the mail! I really love to send him cookies or whatever I can fit into the mailbox and send out. I didn't have the ingredients for his favorites from the last time I sent him cookies, so I searched my cookbooks for a new one. I broke open this cookbook I've had for years, Milk'n'Honey Cookbook for Kids and altered the cookie recipe in it. The original recipe calls for margarine, honey, and raisins. Kyle doesn't like raisins, I don't like margarine, and I've been wanting to bake with molasses. These cookies turned out delightfully unique and tasty! I sent them out to Kyle and he absolutely adores them. Good thing I kept a baggie full of dough in the freezer to nibble on..

Molasses Globs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick)
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups rice flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
sugar and cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheet (I only have one that I can use since my oven is the size of a tissue box..) with some olive oil. Mix together brown sugar, butter, molasses, and egg. Slowly add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and oats until well blended. Mix in chocolate chips until just blended. Roll dough into balls about the size of .. well.. it says walnuts but I just kinda guestimated since I have no idea what the size of a walnut is. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Press the balls flat with a spoon dipped in sugar and cinnamon. Bake about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and edges are set. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. Then enjoy!!

Banana Bread Bonanza

Last night I had a conundrum; I wanted to bake banana bread but did not have a gluten-free recipe for it. Sure, I had a recipe for regular banana bread (taken from the Grandma's Touch cookbook my mom bought me years ago) but I vividly remember the last time I tried to convert a recipe to gluten free. Let's just say it turned out to be chocolate GOO rather than brownies. Haha! But I really wanted banana bread.. so I gathered up my courage and converted it anyway! As I'm happily adding ingredients into my mixer, I was horrified to see that the recipe called for 1 CUP of bananas rather than 1 banana in itself. No wonder the mixture looked so runny. I grabbed some banana chips off the shelf of the pantry and crushed up a handful or so of them and threw them into the mixture hoping that would solve my problem. Well I don't know if it solved things or not, but the bread came out beautifully and is a big hit at the bank! Hooray for banana bread success!

Banana Bread
1 3/4 cups brown rice flour
1/8 cup flax seed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Handful crushed banana chips
Cinnamon, to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil plus 1 tbspn butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 mashed banana (I just broke up the banana and let the mixer mash it in)
1 cup skim milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat together oil, sugar and egg. Add bananas and milk; combine well. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into a greased and floured 5 x 9" loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.