Hawaiian Carrot Nut Bread

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by

Cindy

I love carrots!!  I have eaten so many raw carrots that my palms have turned orange.  When I was thinking of a dessert to make with carrots, not a whole lot of recipes popped into my mind.  Even though I love carrots, there are not that many recipes to choose from compared to lets say "chocolate" recipes.  lol  While I was at my mom's house, we found a recipe that sounded like it would be pretty good and I decided to make it.  It's a Banana Nut Bread recipe that can be made with carrots.  Sweet breads are really good.  They are usually not too sweet and have a soft texture, and that's exactly how this recipe turned out.  It's very delicious, not too sweet, tastes soft, and goes really well with a cup of coffee.  I enjoyed a piece yesterday morning at work with my cup of coffee.  Delicious!

Hawaiian Carrot Nut Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 t salt

1 t baking soda

2 cups sugar

1 t ground cinnamon

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups grated carrots

1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained

2 t vanilla extract

Combine first 5 ingredients: stir in pecans.  Combine remaining ingredients; add to four mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured (or sprayed with Baker's Secret) loaf pans or several smaller ones.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes. If using a smaller loaf pan cut the time and watch closely.  Check larger loafs after one hour.  Take out of oven when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.

Recipe adapted fromThe Southern Living Cookbook, 1987

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Cheesecake Filled Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

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By: Christy

This week in honor of spring and the Easter holidays we are baking with carrots. Mom and I headed up to visit Sarah in Louisville last weekend (she just moved into a new house! I'm sure she will tell you all about it soon) and unfortunately none us got a head start on baking this week. But never fear I have a recipe I have made quite a few times and is always an awesome crowd pleaser (I'm sure you could have guessed that by the title of the post). I don't have step by step pictures but if anyone has any questions at all let me know. 

A few years ago I went though a baking cupcake obsession, specifically filled cupcakes. Who doesn't love finding a delicious surprise on the inside of a mini cake? I know I do. And that is how this cupcake came about. With a conglomerate of different recipes and ideas I paired them together to make one fantastic treat! Carrot cake with a cheesecake center topped with cream cheese frosting. Y-U-M!

 Cake:

 To keep this recipe a bit easier I usually just use a cake mix. I LOVE the new Duncan Hines Decadent Classic Carrot Cake (see picture of box below)

Cheesecake Filling:

4 ounces softened cream cheese

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

(My all time fave!) Cream Cheese Icing

8 ounces softened cream cheese

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon shortening

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Prepare the cake mix according to the box instructions and preheat oven to 350. Fill muffin liners between half and 2/3rds full with the cake batter. Next you will need to prepare the cheesecake filling. Cream together with a mixer the cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Using a spoon, put about a teaspoon of the cheesecake filling on top of the batter in each cupcake liner. Bake according to the box. If you are unsure when they are finished baking, use the stick test. Stick a toothpick in it, and when it comes out dry or with crumbs (not batter) on it, you're good!

While the cupcakes are cooling, it's the perfect time to make the icing. Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and mix those ingredients are well combined. Split the cream cheese into thirds. Add the first third to the mixture and combine. Next add the shortening and mix until combined. Follow that step by adding the remaining cream cheese, but one piece at a time. Gradually add the sugar and combine thoroughly. Then frost your cupcakes! I didn't put alot of icing on my cupcakes since I had the cheesecake filling too. I wanted to keep from overpowering the deliciousness of the carrot cake, plus this recipe doesn't make very much icing. If you want to top your cupcakes with a gracious helping of frosting, I would double the recipe. Finally, a nice touch to finish off decorating the cupcakes would be to add some chopped pecans to the top, some grated carrot slices or even chocolate sprinkles.

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Mini Chocolate Pies

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by

Cindy

March Madness is our theme this week and unfortunately my team is already out of the brackets.  I was cheering for my Alma Mater, Western Kentucky University.  I guess I'll cheer for UK now, but I'm seriously thinking about changing sides and going to IU.  Now that I'm back in Indiana I may have to rethink the UK - IU thing.  Some of you may just have to use some persuasive comments and try to convince me which team I need to support.  We'll see. lol

This recipe is simple and easy and the little pies are so cute.  They look kind of like wontons but taste oh so much better.  They have a chocolate Hershey's kiss center that kind of melts in your mouth. I didn't have a pie shell so I decided to make one from scratch.  Pie crusts are not hard to make especially if you have a food processor.  If you don't have time or just don't want to make one, use the refrigerated pie crusts or thaw one out.  I think the pie crust sheets would be the best for this recipe. 

Pie Crust

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 T butter, cut into 1 T slices

5 T shortening

pinch of salt

3 T ice water

Measure the flour and salt into the food processor with the regular blade attached.  Add the butter and shortening.  The butter needs to be very cold.  Pulse three times with three counts per pulse to lightly mix the ingredients.  With the motor running, pour ice water into the work bowl 1 T at a time and probably not using all 3 T.  Add water until the dough just starts to get noticeably crumbly.  Don't wait until it is a big clump or it will be too wet and will turn out tough. 

 Stop the machine, dump the crumbly dough out on a wax paper or in a bowl.  Gather the dough into a ball with your hands and squeeze to make it stick together.  If it won't form a ball, add just a little bit more water.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Mini Chocolate Pies

pie crust or sheet

14 or more Hershey's kisses (don't use the almond ones - it needs to have more chocolate)

1 egg white and 1 T water

powdered and granulated sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Roll out pie dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Place kisses on dough about 2 1/2 inches apart.  Find a glass or bowl that is about the size you need to cut and use it to make circles in dough. 

Slide a knife under each circle to ease off of surface.  Fold half of pie dough around kiss.  Now fold up both sides of remaining dough and pinch edges together.  See picture.

Continue cutting dough around kisses until all dough is used up.  Re-roll any scraps until all dough is used up.  Whisk together egg white and water.  Brush all little pies with this egg wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar.  Bake for 20-28 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  Dust each one with powdered sugar and serve.

Pie Crust Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

Mini Pie Recipe by the picky-palate.com

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Basketball Glazed Butter Cookies

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By Christy

Anthony Davis- My Favorite Player!!!

Happy March Madness!!! Originally being from KY, basketball has always been my forefront sport to watch and enjoy. It definitely doesn't hurt my interest when UK plays so well in addition it is my boyfriend's Alma mater. I, of course, put the University of Kentucky as the NCAA Champion and my bracket is actually in 4th place right now at work! (for now!) How is your bracket doing?

Due to all the bball watching, March Madness parties, and sports bar gatherings, we couldn't ignore baking for this super fun occasion. I was going to bake some sort of awesome UK baked good but decided not all of our readers may have the same sentiment towards my #1 team. Therefore, I decided to make basketball shaped butter cookies. They are not only festive but bite sized and delicious! Butter cookies, spritz cookies and shortbread cookies are all simple cookies that hold their shape really well. You see them baked alot around the holidays using cookie presses in fun shapes and that is why I knew it was the perfect type of cookie to make a half sphere without having to worry about them spreading or flattening out too much. Using a simple vanilla glaze dyed orange and some melted milk chocolate these cookies were transformed to be a perfect March Madness treat!

Butter Cookie:

Recipe is adapted from Land O'Lakes Spritz Cookie

1 cup salted butter, softened

2/3 cups granulated sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Martha Stewart's Vanilla Glaze:

3 cups sifted confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

Decoration:

Milk Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients for the cookies except for the flour and mix on medium speed until the mixture is creamy. Reduce speed to low and add the flour slowly until well mixed. To make half spheres I used a cookie scoop (as pictured to the right). Once I had my cookies scooped, I actually used a kabob stick to make basketball line indention's on the dough but now that I have baked and decorated I do not think this step is necessary. Bake in a preheated oven for about 14 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown.

While the cookies are cooling, prepare the vanilla glaze. Using a medium sized bowl, and a whisk -combine all ingredients. Once mixed well and there are little to no clumps, add the food coloring to get the desired orange coloring. I poured the glaze in a short cup and used a kabob stick to make dipping the cookies easier. Put the glazed cookies on a piece of wax paper while drying and dip the cookies twice for a brighter coloring. Once the glaze has dried (or is close), melt some chocolate chips in a zip lock bag. Microwave in increments of 15 seconds to ensure they don't get over cooked. Once melted, snip a teeny tiny corner of the bag off. Pipe the lines of a basketball on the sphere and let cool until the chocolate has hardened. If you are in a rush, putting the cookies in the freezer speeds up the process. Store the cookies in an air tight container with a piece of wax paper between the layers to ensure none of the cookies stick together. 

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Irish Cream Cake

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by

Cindy

Top of the mornin to ya.  Since we're celebrating St. Patrick's Day this Saturday, I've made an Irish Cream Cake.  This cake is moist and the sauce is delicious and very Irish tasting. lol.  All you need is a yellow cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, some Bailey's Irish Cream, and normal ingredients that are in most kitchen pantries. 

1 cup chopped nuts

1 pkg yellow cake mix

1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur

1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick)

1/4 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease and flour or spray with flour cooking spray a 10 inch Bundt pan.  Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan. Combine cake mix and pudding mix.  Mix in eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cup Irish cream.  Beat for 5 minutes at high speed.  Pour batter in Bundt pan over nuts.  Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto the serving plate.  Prick top and sides of cake.  Spoon glaze over the top trying to cover evenly. Allow to absorb glaze and repeat until all glaze is used up.

Glaze:  In a medium saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water, and 1 cup sugar.  Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from the heat and stir in 1/4 cup Irish cream.



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Marbled Chocolate and Butter Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream Icing

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By: Christy

T-minus 2 days until St. Patrick's Day. My family isn't from an Irish decent but just like the rest of us, I still enjoy celebrating between wearing green, having a green beer, feasting on corn beefed and cabbage and of course finding some sort of delicious St. Paddy's Day dessert. There are tons of traditional Irish desserts but I wanted to share something more festive looking while still keeping the integrity of something delicious-- And I have done just that. Say hello to these extrodinary semi-homeade cupcakes- Green and brown (chocolate and butter) marbled cake, dipped in dark chocolate ganache, topped with Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream icing and chocolate sprinkles. It makes my mouth water just typing that out and trust me they taste as good as the description sounds.  If you make these for a party, you are sure to impress because these cupcakes topped with icing laced with Bailey's Irish cream ranks this cupcake near the top of any cupcake lover's list.

Cake:

Green Food Coloring

1 box Duncan Hines Marble Cake

3 large eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cup water

Dark Chocolate Ganache

3 ounces heavy whipping cream

3 ounces dark chocolate

Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream

Inspired and adapted from Smells Like Home Food blog

2 sticks softened butter

6-7 cups of Powdered Sugar

6 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream

Green Food Coloring

Directions:

Prepare the marbled cake mix according to the box directions. Make sure to remove 1 cup of batter to make the chocolate portion. Put green food coloring in the yellow butter cake mix until it is the color green you desire.

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3rds full with the green batter and top it with about a tablespoon of the chocolate cake batter. Take a spoon and swirl the batters together until the two have blended together. Do not over stir or the colors will meld together too much. Bake in the oven according to the box directions.

While the cupcakes are cooking you can make the dark chocolate ganache. Measure out 3 ounces of heavy whipping cream and 3 ounces of dark chocolate (I used a scale to make my measurements) and put into a dish that will be easy to dip the cupcakes in. (A mug or small bowl will be fine). I microwaved the whipping cream in increments of 15 seconds until the chocolate had melted (make sure the mixture doesn't start boiling). The chocolate will kind of look clumpy so mix it with a spoon for about 1 -2 minutes until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Let the chocolate sit a couple minutes to cool a bit and then proceed to dip the tops of your cupcakes in the chocolate. (if you would prefer, you could put the chocolate in an icing bag and pipe the chocolate ganache filling into the center of the cupcake- Dipping the cupcakes is just a little easier)

To make the frosting, beat the softened butter in a mixture until it is light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar until the butter and sugar are mixed. It will be very thick but the irish cream will soften it. Add your Bailey's Irish Cream and whip until smooth. If the icing seems too runny, add a few tablespoons of powdered sugar until it is the consistency you want to work with. Once it is mixed add the green food coloring. I used a large star icing tip to decorate the top of my cupcakes and topped it with chocolate sprinkles for a nice and delicious contrast.

Happy Early St. Patrick's Day! :)

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Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

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By: Christy

Do you love the flavors of mint and chocolate paired together? Are you looking for something festive to make for St. Patrick's Day? If you answered yes to both of these questions, then I have the perfect recipe for you! Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies. Not only do they have huge chunks of dark and milk chocolate but they also has bits of Andes Mountain Creme De Menthe candies in them. Can we say Y-U-M!!!

Ingredients:

2 packages of Sugar Cookies (or your own sugar cookie recipe)-softened

1 cup of Andes Mountains Candy chopped

1 to 2 teaspoons mint extract (depending on how strong you want the mint flavor to be)

1/2 to 1 cup Dark Chocolate chunks or chips

1/2 to 1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips

Green Food Coloring

Freeze the Andes Mountain Candy. Once frozen you can start making the cookies. Preheat the oven to 350. Remove softened cookie dough from packaging and put in a large mixing bowl. Mix together (very well) by hand- the cookie dough, mint extract, and green food coloring. (Might not be a bad idea to use rubber gloves and powder sugar the surface and gloves to prevent sticking). Chop or slightly food process the Andes Mountain Candy into chunks. Since they are frozen they should easily break into small pieces. Add the dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips (I think these cookies are better with a high ratio of chocolate vs cookie) and mix well. 

Form batter into balls or use a cookie scoop and place the cookies on a non greased cookie sheet or silpat. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes (watch for slightly golden brown edges). Once cookies are cooled, remove from pan -serve and enjoy. :)

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Gluten Free Chocolate Pecan Meringues

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by

Cindy

I felt like a failure since my from scratch gluten free cake turned out badly, so I decided to make another gluten free recipe.  I had checked out several gluten free cookbooks from the library and was scanning through them when I saw this recipe.  It reminded me of a cookie that my friend's mom used to make when we were in grade school.  My friend's name was Ellen Hamrick, and I remember that I loved going over to her house.  I loved these cookies because I had never had anything like them.  She made vanilla meringue cookies with chocolate chips.  I've made them on occasion but they never seemed to taste as good as Ellen's mom's cookies.  This recipe is a little different but it has normal ingredients and is naturally gluten free.  They are light, crunchy, and just a fun cookie.  I looked up the Nestle Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips just to make sure that they were gluten free and found that there were.  Tones vanilla is also gluten free.  Another good thing about this recipe is that it's very low in fat, so there should be less guilt about eating these. lol.

5 egg whites (eggs are easier to separate when cold and egg whites make more

volume when room temperature, so let them set out for a little while after separating)

1/2 t cream of tartar

1/4 t salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate or chocolate chips

1 T butter or margarine

2 T milk

1/2 c toasted pecans, chopped finely

Preheat oven to 250 degree.  Beat egg whites with a mixer on high speed until foamy.  Add the cream of tartar and salt, beating until soft peaks form.  Gradually add sugars, beating until stiff peaks form.  Add vanilla: beat one minute. 

Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.  Spoon  mounds on to sheet, or you can use a pastry sack and pipe them out or cut the tip off the corner of a Ziploc to use as a piping tool - this makes it much easier and neater.  The don't have to be far apart because they will not spread during baking.  Bake for 1 hour or until dry to touch, rotating pan halfway through cooking.  Meringues will be done when surface is dry and meringues can be removed from paper without sticking.  Turn the oven off and let cookies cool for an hour in the oven. To make the chocolate dipping sauce, microwave the chocolate, butter, and milk in 30 second increments until melted.  I used a one cup glass measuring cup because it was deep and I could dip the cookies in it.  After you dip one side of the cookie, roll it in the chopped nuts.  Keep in an airtight container.

adapted from

The Cooking Light Gluten Free Cookbook

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Twitter

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The BCBs have recently joined the Twitter Community. To follow our cooking journey through twitter find us under under BcBakers or simply click on the "Follow @BcBakers" on the right side bar.

Happy Baking!
-The BCBs

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Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

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By: Christy

If you are anything like me you have no idea about the current "gluten free" diet fad that is going around. Gluten, (according to Wikipedia) is "a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barley and rye. It gives elasticity to dough, helping it to rise and to keep its shape, and often giving the final product a chewy texture."

I actually found out that gluten free isn't just a diet fad --There are actually lots of people that are gluten intolerant and have to cut gluten out of the diet involuntarily (my heart goes out to you all!). That is why when we decided to designate a week of baking to gluten free, I was determined to find a really good dessert because people that are gluten intolerant deserve delicious treats just like the rest of us!

Not only did I score a delicious recipe but it is also one of the easiest and fastest recipes I have actually posted on this blog. From start to finish these cookies took about 15 minutes to put together and bake and they are so good you wouldn't even realize they are cookies made for a specialty diet (gluten free). If you eat gluten free, or just love peanut butter try these cookies. You wont regret it!

Ingredients:

1 cup smooth or creamy peanut butter

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix together all ingredients to form a thick batter. Depending on how large you want the cookies to be, form dough into round balls and place on a non greased cookie sheet.

Using a fork dipped in water, push the flat side of the fork onto the cookie (it will flatten them out). Imprint the cookie twice making perpendicular imprints. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes. The key is to NOT attempt to remove the cookies from the cookie sheet until the cookies have completely cooled (or they will break apart). Once completely cooled, use a spatula to remove each cookie.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

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New Look

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With the help of the founder, designer, and creator of the 4th Leaf Design Studio in Nashville, the Buttercream Bakers' website will be getting a makeover. Please bare with us as we try out different logos, colors, and fonts over the next couple of weeks.

If you want to learn more about the 4th Leaf Design Studio, check out their blog!

Let us know if you have any ideas or changes you would like to see on our site!

Happy Baking,
-The BCBs

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Gluten Free Vanilla Cake

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By

Cindy

      We've had requests for gluten free recipes and I had to make a gluten free cake for close family friends who are moving, so it worked out nicely for this week's post.  This is really my first encounter with gluten free recipes.  I talked with one of my co-workers who I know buys special items for baking and found out that there are several stores in Evansville that carry gluten free items.  Elbert's Natural Food Store sells the rice and tapioca flour, xanthan gum, gluten free vanilla cake mix and more.  I looked at Walmart and found several flavors of gluten free cake mix that only made one layer and cost about $5. 

      I wanted to make a gluten free vanilla cake from scratch so I bought all the ingredients that I needed at Elbert's.  I also bought the gluten free vanilla cake mix, just in case the from scratch recipe didn't taste good or vice versa.  This stuff is very pricey!  It cost $25 for rice flour, tapioca flour and xanthan gum.  All the other ingredients that I needed were gluten free.  I used a recipe from allrecipes.com.  When I tasted the batter, it didn't taste good.   It had a peculiar flavor.  I tasted the rice flour and it tasted fine.  The tapioca flour was the culprit that had the bad flavor.  I sprayed the pan with Bakers Secret which does contain flour but I didn't realize it until later.  I don't know if this small amount of flour would affect someone, but since it didn't taste very good, I didn't think I would serve it anyway. 

     Since I wasn't thrilled with the taste, I made the packaged gluten free vanilla cake mix.  This cake batter tasted much better.  It is made just like a regular cake mix with adding the eggs, oil, and water.  I baked it a little longer than the time suggested on the sack but wish I had gotten it out sooner.  The texture was a little different than regular cake mix and my toothpick didn't come out very clean, even right before I took it out.  I think it's just a stickier cake mix and the toothpick may not be the best way to tell if it's done.  I sprayed the pan with regular cooking oil spray and just added some rice flour and shook it around the pan so that the cake would come out cleanly. It didn't rise as much as a regular cake, but I iced and decorated it with my usual vanilla "birthday cake" icing.  I would not have known that it was gluten free by the taste because it did taste good. I'm going to put up another gluten free recipe later in the week, since this wasn't really a recipe. lol



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