Oatmeal Raisin Quick Bread

It's Friday! 

Even though I've been gone from the workforce for quite a while (3 1/2 years people!), for some reason, Fridays still hold all the magical allure that they once did. Fridays were always my favorite days during my younger school days, my college days, and later, my work week. When I was in school, Fridays always felt like there was an undercurrent of excitement going through me and all my classmates. Anticipation of a weekend that held endless possibilities for me and my girlfriends. Whose house would we sleep at? What games would we play? What boys would we talk about? Fridays change a bit in college, the anticipation is more like, "What bar are we going to this weekend??". Still loved Fridays. And the work week? Fridays were the days we were allowed to wear jeans to work and the boss would buy us coffee and bagels for breakfast. Weekend plans would excitedly be made over caffeine and carbs. 

And you know what? Not much has changed. I may not be implored to go to class or to open an account for someone, but I still love Fridays. What's that about? Maybe I just enjoy the happy and excitable atmosphere the day brings about in everyone else. Either way, Friday is just a perfect day to wrap up the week. Maybe I'm just in a jolly mood because- dun, dun, DUN- the hubby has the day off tomorrow! He's worked 10 straight 12-14 hour days, and he's running ragged. I told him if he doesn't sleep in tomorrow, I'll club him over the head and he'll sleep anyhow.

No. No,  I would never do that :)

Now, about this recipe. I made this bread specifically for the hubby and his healthy eating. It's made with whole wheat flour, almond milk, and lots of healthy oats and raisins. I really piled on the spices in this cake, because that's what the hubby luuurves. The result was a deliciously toasty, moist, and seriously addictive quick bread. It's definitely got an oatmeal cookie quality to it. Yummmmm. 

I used quick cooking oats for mine, just because that's what I had on hand. I normally use regular oats, but I could find nary a regular oat on my shelves. I wasn't sure if the quick cooking would cause any changes in the bread, but I sure didn't notice any. That being said, I think you could substitute regular oats for the quick cooking variety. As for the raisins? Don't skimp. They are one of the best things about this bread. It's like a party for your mouth when you get one of those tasty morsels in your bite. I love how baking raisins makes them softer, and it's almost like they burst with flavor in your mouth. 

I pulled my loaf from the oven a little early, which resulted in the bread falling a bit in the middle. Since I used whole wheat flour, I was worried about over baking. Although the bread was done, it probably could have gone a few more minutes. I'm not too worried about the appearance however, taste is king. I'd rather have a slightly sunken bread that's moist and delectable vs. a perfect looking but dry confection. If you are worried if the bread is done or not, one of my favorite ways to decipher doneness is with a thermometer. Yes, I said thermometer. Quick breads should reach 190º, so you can use a handy kitchen thermometer to make your decision for you. Looks like I could have used it in this case! :)

Does anyone have any exciting plans for the weekend? Other than the farmer's market tomorrow morning, I don't. The only thing I do know is that there will be lots of hubby-time. Who knows what we will get in to? Maybe a movie. Or head to West Virginia. Or stay home and have a Netflix binge session. The world is our oyster. 

All right, all right. Jessica out. There are bird feeders to be filled, the garden to be watered, and compost to be tumbled! Duty calls :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups almond milk

2 large eggs

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla

1 heaping cup raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly coat a loaf pan with cooking spray. Set aside. 

2. In a large bowl, combine flours through salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, combine almond milk through vanilla. Beat well. Fold dry ingredients in with a spatula. Take care to not over mix, fold just until the mixture is moist. Fold in raisins. 

4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake in oven 50-110 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean. Check bread at 30 minutes. If the bread is browning too much, cover with aluminum foil and keep baking. When done, remove from oven. Allow to cool in pan for 45 minutes. Turn bread out and slice. Serve immediately. Cool completely before storing.

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Bake or Break.

If you enjoyed this recipe, you may enjoy these:

Simple Banana Bread

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bread

Nutella Swirled Banana Bread

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Treasure Box Tuesdays

Oreo Birthday Cake Bites

Fun post today! This recipe is barely a recipe, and a riff off my Mint Chocolate Truffles. These are delicious and fun, and best of all, NO-BAKE. I just love no-bakes. These would be perfect for a last-minute invitation where you need to bring something quick. They take all of 15 minutes to make, and probably 15 minutes to set. Your friends and family will love these, indeed the hubby's family was enamored by these moist, flavorful bites of birthday cake. 

You're going to need a package of Birthday Cake Oreo's. These special edition Oreo's actually come in 2 flavors- chocolate cookie and golden cookie. I originally went to the store scouting out the golden Oreo's but never came across them. Never one to be deterred by such details, my eyes strayed across the chocolate package. It was a done deal.

Thanks to the birthday cake flavored creme in the middle of the cookie, these little no-bakes taste exactly like birthday cake. Don't these just look perfect for a kid's birthday party?

Or an adult birthday party? Methinks these would go perfect with Kahlua and coffee :)

I actually made these by request! It was one of those days that I went craaaazy on Pinterest. I have those days once in awhile. You know, the days where you can't even be bothered to change out of your pajamas or to brush your hair... or teeth... or even to wipe the coffee off your face. Oh come on, everyone has those days! Anyhoo, it was a Pinterest day. I'd been pinning for quite a while, I'd probably pinned 100-200 images. One of those images was these Fruit Punch Oreo Truffles. Later that day, I received a text from the hubby's aunt. She'd seen those fruit punch truffles, and just had to have em'. Being the nice kid that I am, I offered to make them for her. Little did she know, I couldn't wait to make them!

Fast forward to even later that day, and I received a call from her. She was at the store and confronted with Birthday Cake Oreo's. They had tempted her to the point where she now wanted birthday cake truffles, the fruit punch truffles long forgotten.

To quote Barney Stinson, "Challenge Accepted".

And the rest is history. I had some real fun with these, and used 4 different gel food colors to color my melted candy coating. Just for giggles. By all means, there's no requirement to color the candy coating. A white candy coating with a smattering of sprinkles would look just as delicious. I, however, had picked up 8 different gel colors at Hobby Lobby in December and I was dying to try them. I went with yellow, pink, purple, and blue.

Let me give you this piece of advice- if you make these, have a plan to get them out of your house. They are perfectly "poppable", making them extremely tempting when sitting on your kitchen counter. It's beyond easy to walk in the kitchen, and before you know it, have gobbled up 3 or 4. This could be a problem for bikini season :)

Happy Tuesday friends! Another week is well underway in these early weeks of summer. Early summer is one of my favorite times of year. Everything is in full bloom, the humidity isn't overbearing yet, the sun is out almost every day, the birds and critters are everywhere, and the veggies in season at the grocery store, oh my! I'm a happy girl. I was walking into my backyard yesterday morning, and was certainly startled when I rounded the corner only to be confronted with a rather large deer. Our eyes met, and 2 graceful bounds later, he was gone. I'm not sure what he was doing in my backyard, seeing as the grass hasn't grown in yet and it's still a rather large mud pit, but it was nice to see him. I heart deer :)

Speaking of which, I'm off to mow the lawn and see if I can scare off any more critters :)

Ingredients:

1 package (12.2 oz) Birthday Cake Oreo's

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 package (16 oz) vanilla candy coating

gel food coloring (optional)

sprinkles 

Directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse Oreo's until they resemble a coarse crumb.

2. Add cream cheese to food processor. Pulse until mixture resembles a large ball of dough.

3. Using a 1 tbsp cookie scoop, roll dough into balls. Place balls on a cookie sheet.

4. Melt candy coating according to manufacturer directions. Add desired amount of food coloring, if using. Using a skewer, dip truffles into candy coating. Place on a piece of parchment paper to harden up. Dust with sprinkles before candy coating dries.

5. Allow to dry completely before storage. Store in an airtight container. 

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Love Bakes Good Cakes.

If you liked this recipe, you might enjoy-

Mint Chocolate Truffles

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday

Mixed Berry Cupcakes

Happy Memorial Day!

I've got a treat for you. These cupcakes are amaze balls! I finally managed to knock my socks off. I tried a different cake base for the cupcakes, and I think I'm done searching for the best basic cake recipe. This is it. I'm hanging my hat up, untacking my horse, and giving up the hunt. This is the best cake I've made, traditional or cupcake. The texture is perfect, fluffy and moist. They rose perfectly, and the integrity of the cake was strong enough to hold up to all my garnishes. I'm just so impressed with the results from this cake technique, which is once again from Sally's Baking Addiction. Like my favorite cookie base, this recipe starts with melted butter. Who knew?? Sally is a genius, that's all I can say.

Now that I've got this recipe under my hat, I'll be playing endlessly with it. Different flavor combinations, maybe add some chocolate, maybe make a traditional cake out of it...The possibilities are endless!

Let me tell you about these cupcakes though, since that is the point of today's post. I knew I wanted to make Mixed Berry Cupcakes, but I wasn't sure how I was going to go about it. My original idea was for a vanilla cake with chopped berried folded in. The more I thought about it, the more I thought a compote running through the cake would be more fluid. Plus, I've never tried folding fruit into a cupcake, I wasn't sure if it would make them too heavy. An experiment for another day. So I made a compote which I swirled through the vanilla batter. Definitely the way to go! For the frosting, I'd always had a Raspberry Buttercream in mind because I had half a jar of raspberry jam earmarked to be used up. I followed a recipe for Raspberry Buttercream, and found I had a light pink frosting that barely tasted like raspberries. 

So, what did I do?

I added a whole heck of a lot more raspberry jam, that's what I did! In the end, I ended up with frosting that tastes similar to raspberry sorbet. Any raspberry fans out there dislike raspberry sorbet? 

No one? Didn't think so :)

This is hand's down my new favorite frosting. Granted, I don't like frosting and this tastes more like ice cream... But yes, this frosting is the bomb.com!

I believe due to the amount of raspberry jam in the frosting, it turned out a bit soft. I'm personally ok with this, because I ended up storing the cupcakes in the fridge. The cold didn't ruin the integrity of the cupcakes at all; the cake held up nicely under the cold and the frosting hardened up. A small price to pay for this delicious frosting.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day! I know I will. I'm fresh off a "Girl's Day Out" yesterday, so I will be recouping today. The hubby and I are grilling chicken tonight and making spinach salads, and it's supposed to be sunny and in the eighties today. It's going to be the perfect relaxing day :)

Happy Monday!

Ingredients (makes 12 cupcakes):

Compote-

1 cup blueberries

1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries

1/3 cup  granulated sugar

Cake-

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

2 egg whites

1/4 cup Greek yogurt, plain

3/4 cup almond milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

seeds scraped from 1/2 vanilla bean

Frosting-

1 cup butter, softened

4-5 cups powdered sugar

1 cup raspberry jam (you can use less!)

Garnish- 

halved strawberries, blueberries, mint leaves (all optional!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Line a cupcake pan with liners, set aside.

2. Make the compote- in a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, strawberries, and sugar. Heat over medium heat, stirring often. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the berries have broken down and the mixture is very thick. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Make the cake- In a small bowl, combine the flour through baking soda. Stir to mix. Set aside. In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. When melted, add sugar. Stir until no lumps remain, mixture will be very gritty. Add the egg whites through the vanilla bean seeds, stir until no lumps remain. Add dry ingredients to wet, and mix until no lumps remain. Batter will be very thick.

4. Divide the vanilla batter among the cupcake pan. Take the compote and with a spoon, spoon a tablespoon of compote onto the vanilla batter. Take a toothpick and thoroughly swirl the batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting-----> This is necessary since the frosting is so soft. The cupcakes must be cool or the frosting will slide off. This is non-negotiable.

5. Make the frosting- In a large bowl, combine butter and powdered sugar. Beat with a hand mixer until combined, 1-2 minutes. Start by adding 1/3 cup of jam to the frosting. Beat until you reach your desired texture. Taste test. From here, you can either stop because you like your frosting, or continue to add jam until you reach your desired level of "raspberriness". Put frosting into a piping bag, and pipe onto the cupcakes. You could always use just a knife to frost too :)

6. Garnish cupcakes, if desired. Serve immediately! Store cupcakes in the fridge, up to 1 week.

Printable Recipe

Cake recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction. Frosting recipe adapted from Food.com. 

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesdays, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Fridays, Feature Fridays

Pecan Pie Cake

Pecan pie is good.

Cake is good.

Therefore, shouldn't taking the two and combining them into one delicious confection be twice as good? 

Yes, yes it is.

This is a cake among cakes. So freakin' good. I do realize pecan pie is poplar during the winter, holiday months, but cake is popular year round. I felt no shame "pecan-ing out" this spring. The cake is rich and moist, with layers of custard and toasted nuts. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and you'll think you've died and gone to heaven. 

This is a bit of a labor intensive cake. I made it for my mother-in-law's birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I did not know what I was getting myself into. My MIL (much like the hubby's aunt) didn't have a preference on cake, and asked for a surprise. Both her and the hubby have an affinity for Pecan Pie, and I'd had this recipe under my hat for over a year. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to try it. Well, my MIL was ALL about it when I suggested it. I set about to make it the day before her birthday, until I realized I probably wouldn't be constructing the cake till the next day. The custard layer really should sit overnight in the fridge before you use it in the layers. So I made the custard, and into the fridge it went. The custard layer worked perfectly in construction the next day. I then turned my focus to the cakes, realizing I was going to need 3 bowls and to separate a lot of eggs. I hate separating eggs. Somehow, someway I always get egg yolk in my whites. Never fear, I managed to separate with ease this day. 

The egg whites are separated in this case, and whipped up. Like meringue. The egg whites are folded into the cake batter at the end, I believe to add levity to the cake. It's very important to have absolutely no yolk in your whites, or your egg whites aren't going to stiffen properly. Which means your cake won't rise. Which spells disaster! 

Ok, I'm being a little dramatic. But seriously, don't get yolk in your whites.

As I was preparing the cake, I noticed a little note in the recipe. It said you should never make pecan pie on a rainy or overcast day. What?? I'd never heard that before. It's apparently an old Southern adage. Indeed, this recipe is adapted from a Southern Living recipe. Well. I wanted to know why. Upon googling this perplexity, I was able to find... nothing. No reason that you should avoid making pecan pie on a rainy day except that you just should. Consequently, I've relegated that adage into the category of old wives' tales. 

So, there you go. Pecan Pie Cake. It sounds and looks decadent, and it totally is. Who cares if it's not Thanksgiving? Get down with your bad self anyway!

Happy Hump Day!

Ingredients:

Custard-

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup dark corn syrup

1/3 cup cornstarch

4 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups half-n-half

1/8 tsp salt

3 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cake-

3 cups pecans, toasted and finely chopped

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

5 eggs, separated

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

corn syrup

Directions:

1. Prepare the custard- combine dark brown sugar through salt in a COLD saucepan. Whisk until smooth. Turn heat on, and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Whisk CONSTANTLY. Cook 1 minute or until mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla until smooth and melted, then press a piece of wax paper over the top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. When mixture has cooled, chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. 

2. Prepare the cakes- Preheat oven to 350º. Completely coat 3 (9 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray. Distribute the 3 cups of pecans evenly into the 3 pans, shaking to coat the bottoms and sides of pan.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and shortening until fluffy. Beat in sugar. Beat in egg yolks. Beat in vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Add flour mixture slowly to butter mixture, alternating with buttermilk. Repeat until flour mixture and buttermilk are completely mixed in.

4. In another bowl, beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Distribute batter among the 3 pans.

5. Bake in preheated oven 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn cakes out to a cooling rack. Brush cakes with corn syrup (I recommend putting a piece of wax paper under your cooling rack). Cool completely before constructing cake.

6. Construct cake- Spread half of custard on one cake, pecan side up. Place 2nd layer of cake, pecan side up, on top of custard. Smooth on remainder of custard. Place remaining cake, pecan side up, on top of remainder of filling. 

7. Slice cake, and serve with whip cream or vanilla ice cream.

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Southern Living.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Tickle My Tastebuds Tuesdays

Classic White Birthday Cake

Let's dive right into birthday season, shall we?

I have 2 cake recipes for you this month! I know, I know, most month's don't even have 1 cake recipe. April is a popular month for the hubby's family and their birthdays. Lots of birthdays around this time of year. This equates into lots of baking experience for moi. This cake was baked for the hubby's aunt's birthday. I had asked her what kind of cake she wanted me to make, and at first she came back with "Surprise me!". Upon further questioning, I got her to reveal that she loves white cake with white frosting. Done and done.

White cake is white cake due to the fact that there are no egg yolks in it. Separating eggs is not my forte, however, I successfully pulled it off with this cake. You know, without wasting any eggs or having to start over. This is a great recipe for white cake. Moist, flavorful, pretty. I was pleased as punch with the final result.

What's a birthday cake without at least a few candles?

Aunt's birthday was 2 weeks ago, and it ended up being a fabulous Spring day. We (we being the hubby, I, aunt, uncle, and mother-in-law) all took Aunt out for a birthday lunch, then ended up back at home for cake and ice cream. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the bees not quite out of hibernation yet- we took full advantage and got our sweet tooth on outside. Spring is just, quite frankly, the best.

I ended up going with a smattering of sprinkles on top. White on white on white was a tad too much... white. I sprinkled with a touch of reserve, always with the notion this was an adult birthday cake :)

The birthday girl with her cake :)

Special birthday kisses from Gizmo.

All dogs were present, and equally disappointed they didn't get any cake or ice cream. They had to settle for chicken jerky and some kisses :)

All right. That herb garden I mentioned yesterday that the hubby was building me? It's done, and it's super-duper cute. I'm so happy and in love with it. I think I'm going to sneak an extra post in this week so I can share photos. The hubby did a remarkable job. To this day, I'm still amazed at the things he can build (and fix!) with those two hands. I cannot wait until I can start harvesting my bounty. I also can't wait to dive in and learn about gardening. I learn so much better by doing.

For now, I bid you adieu, friends. Look at me, and my French today. I feel so cultured :)

Ingredients:

Cake-

2 1/4 cup cake flour

1 cup milk, room temp (I used 1%)

6 large egg whites, room temp

2 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

Frosting-

1 cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

4-5 tbsp half-n-half

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Flour and butter (2) 9 inch round cake pans.

2. Combine milk, egg whites, and extracts in a medium sized bowl. Whisk until well-combined.

3. Combine sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Toss to combine. Add butter to bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Beat for 1-2 minutes. 

4. Add half of the milk mixture. Beat for another minute. Add the rest of the milk mixture, beat for 1 more minute.

5. Divide batter among 2 cake pans. Bake in pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine actually baked for 22 minutes, though I will add I have a convection oven. 

6. Cool cakes in pan for 30 minutes. Remove from pans, and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.

7. To prepare the frosting, combine butter and sugar in a large bowl. Beat for 1-2 minutes. Add vanilla and 2 tbsp half-n-half. Beat until you reach desired texture. Add more half-n-half if frosting is too thick. 

8. To build cake, frost the top of one cake with a thick layer of frosting. Sandwich the other cake on top of the first cake. Use remaining frosting to cover the entire cake. Top with sprinkles, if desired. Serve with vanilla ice cream for best results. 

Cake recipe by I Am Baker. Frosting recipe adapted from The Kitchen Magpie.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes with Malted Buttercream

Dear Dad,

This post is for you!

Exactly 1 year ago my parents came to visit our new house (crazy how time flies!). My dad picked up a container of malted milk powder at the local grocery store, hoping I would make some treats with it. Better late than never, right Dad? As I was contemplating something to bake this week, I spotted that unopened container of malted milk, sitting right in my line of sight. It was time. I decided on cupcakes, mainly because it had been awhile since I made cupcakes.

I've done a little bit of research on malted milk and what it does to recipes. Chemically, that is. From what I can tell, it will make your cookies flat. That's not a bad thing, just something to counter in your technique making those cookies. Most of the recipes I could find for cupcakes with malted milk powder involve lots of baking soda and no butter.  As in, the baking soda is making the cake rise, not air from creaming butter. I'm always game for an experiment, so I dove right in.

Don't ask me why I'm always surprised when new techniques work. Yet, I am. I easily get set in my ways, like a cave man.

"Grrr, make cupcake rise with butter."

"Baking... soda... Grrr, me no like."

"Me... want... BUTTER!"

That's the amazing thing about food. There are usually multiple ways to achieve a result, allowing chefs to react to and problem solve on the fly. Regardless of the technique, these cupcakes rose just fine without creaming any butter. Which in my mind makes these a lot easier to prepare than other varieties of cupcakes. Not only that, but the malted milk powder really gives these cakes something extra. A little bit of oomph. Indeed, when I mixed the malted milk with the regular milk I discovered the substance smells like the middle of a Whopper. Yum! This led to me topping the cupcakes with crushed Whoppers.

Wowsers.

Make these today. You will not regret it :)

Ingredients (makes 16 standard cupcakes):

Cake:
1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tbsp light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
14 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp malted milk powder
1/2 cup oil
1 large egg + 1 egg white
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting:
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp milk
1/3 cup malted milk powder
1 and 1/2 sticks butter, softened
heaping 1/4 tsp salt
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Topping: crushed Whoppers candy

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Line 2 cupcake pans with 16 liners. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour through salt. Whisk to combine.
3. In a small bowl, combine milk and malt powder. Whisk until no lumps remain.
4. Pour milk mixture into flour mixture. Add oil. Using an electric mixer, mix flour, milk, and oil until well combined. Add egg and egg white. Mix until incorporated, scraping sides of bowl. Add sour cream and vanilla, mix until just combined.
5. Divide batter among lined cups, filling halfway. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
6. Prepare frosting: In a small bowl, combine milk and malt powder. Stir until powder is dissolved. In a large bowl, beat butter and salt until creamy. Add sugar, vanilla, and a drizzle of the milk mixture. Beat mixture until you reached desired consistency, drizzling milk to thin out the frosting. Using a spatula, divide frosting among cupcakes or pipe onto cupcakes using a piping bag. Top each cupcake with a sprinkle of crushed Whoppers. Serve immediately!

Recipe adapted from Take A Mega Bite.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Cunning Ladies' Friday Party

St. Patrick's Pistachio Bread

I'm getting in the Irish holiday spirit already!

I really wanted to make a couple of St. Patty's treats this year, so here I am. This post is brought to you by a failed batch of Bailey's Irish Cream Cookies. I'm undecided whether the Bailey's flavor was just too overwhelmingly strong, or my Bailey's had gone bad. Either way, the cookies sucked. I wasn't about to give up. I began to lead towards a minty treat, and maybe I'll still make one. I did, however, stumble on a recipe for Pistachio Bread in my quest that I just couldn't resist.

Although this technically qualifies as a "quick bread", it tastes like cake. And to be fair, it is made with a cake mix. It's moist, fluffy, and studded with pistachios. Unbeknownst to me, the hubby already loves Pistachio Bread. He did mention my bread was a little more green than Pistachio Breads he's had in the past. I'll admit, I did make mine a bit greener for St. Patty's day. Maybe I could call it Shrek Bread...

Our latest snow event is coming to an end. The temperature got up to 40º yesterday, so we are seeing some melting action. I was finally able to make it to the grocery store yesterday, which gave me a minor break from my cabin fever. The local news finally enlightened everyone as to the reason why Kentucky didn't do any road maintenance earlier this week- they are out of salt. They have placed an order for more that's not here yet, so they are in conservation mode. I think these unpredictable winters are going to be the norm in the future, so I can only hope the state is more prepared next year. Wishful thinking, but a girl can hope.

Today is the first day this week I could go to the gym. As luck would have it, both the hubby and I have colds. Our second colds of 2014. We are not off to a good start. This cold seems like a normal head cold, I'm hoping today is the worst of it. Between going out of town last weekend, and then coming down with a cold, I haven't worked out in over a week. I feel like I'm losing muscle already! I don't know if that's possible after only 9 days or so, but I feel like it is. I have decided not to take my cold to the gym to infect other people. I'm sure they will appreciate that :)

Have a great day everyone!

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 package instant pistachio pudding
4 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tbsp water
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp green food color
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup pistachios, shelled and chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Coat a loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix through almond extract. Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Fold in 3/4 cup pistachios. Spread batter into loaf pan, sprinkle remaining pistachios over the top of the bread.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven, cool in pan 30 minutes. Remove loaf to a cooling rack, allow to cool completely before storage.

*Baking note- I halved the recipe to see if I would like it, resulting in smaller slices of bread. The full recipe will result in normal-size slices of bread.

Recipe by Better than Burgers

Linked to: Weekend Potluck

Nutella-Swirled Banana Bread

We're finally getting a break from the polar vortex!

Oh my goodness, it was 46º yesterday. It felt like a veritable heat wave. The boys (who have a touch of cabin fever) got to be outside for about an hour yesterday. This may not seem like a long time, but I say their total daily outdoor time has been 10 minutes or less for the past week. For Chihuahuas, an hour is a long time. I love it too though. How wonderful to not have to strap on 5 layers to walk out the door! The high for today is supposed to be 55º, which naturally has me chomping at the bit to run outdoors. I haven't ran outdoors since my last 5k, which was December 19th. I think it's time. I'm really going to start February on the right note :)

And then... I can come home and gobble up this quick bread, which (let's be honest here) is basically glorified cake. I guess if you did qualify banana bread as cake, it would be one of my favorites. I'm one of those people who's pretty much anti-frosting. It's all about the cake for me. If it's moist and flavorful, I scrap the frosting right  off the cake. Which makes banana bread perfect for me. While frosting may be the enemy,  I am not, however, opposed to Nutella swirled throughout the cake. I love finding the little pockets of Nutella nestled inside the bread. I strongly suspect kids would especially love the Nutella addition.

Short entry today- I've got a full to-do list today. Doggie time, running, doing a photo shoot for my Loaded Baked Potato Soup, making Homemade Egg McMuffins for the hubby, making Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce for the Superbowl tomorrow (Yippee for the Superbowl!!!), shower, studying "The Science of Good Cooking", and making dinner. Whew.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temp
2 tsp vanilla
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup Nutella

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Coat a loaf-pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk to combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar with a hand mixer until there are no more lumps. Mix in eggs. Mix in vanilla. Mix in bananas. Using a spatula, add dry ingredients. Fold together until batter is just barely moistened. You don't want to over mix and end up with a tough bread.
4. Spread half the batter into the loaf pan. Drop 1/4 cup Nutella in spoonfuls on top of batter. Using a knife, swirl the batter. Spread the remaining batter on top of the swirled batter. Drop the remaining Nutella in spoonfuls on top. Using the knife, swirl the top of the batter.
5. Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes. Check bread to make sure top is not browning too much. Cover the bread with aluminum foil if it looks too brown on top at any point. Bake bread a total of 45-65 minutes. Bread is done when a clean knife inserted comes out clean, or the internal temperature is 190º.
6. Remove from oven. Cool in loaf pan 30 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. Allow bread to cool another 60 minutes before slicing to ensure bread cohesion. Cool completely before storage.

You also might like my Simple Banana Bread!