I am not dead

Hello to my readers!

I wanted to let you know, that despite the appearance that I have died, or at least disappeared from the blogging world, I have not.

My Husband and I recently moved to Nashville, TN from Portland, OR. We just got our internet working, and I have not been baking too much. Which I know, is tragic.

But I plan to make my return. It may be slow. So, please be patient. And thanks for reading! I can't wait to see what 2011 holds!

Lemon Bars

I am a sucker for lemon bars. I used to love the kind from the box, but then I made them from scratch and there is no going back. They are so simple!

So, last night, I was craving some! And I had a lemon or two in the fridge. So, I made them. And they are yummy! They are actually from Weight Watchers, and you would never know! Yeah and I ate way too many!

So here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1 1/3 cup(s) all-purpose flour
5 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
8 Tbsp butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 large egg(s)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup(s) powdered sugar, divided
3/4 cup(s) fresh lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
Instructions

* Preheat oven to 350°F.

* To make crust, mix flour and light brown sugar using a food processor until fully incorporated. Toss butter into flour mixture and pulse to combine using short bursts of power until butter is cut into tiny pea-sized pieces and dough appears lumpy. Sprinkle crust mixture onto an ungreased 13 X 9 X 2-inch baking pan as evenly as possible; press down with a spatula to create a packed surface. Place crust in middle of oven and bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

* Meanwhile, to make lemon topping, beat eggs in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until well blended. Add vanilla extract and 3/4 cup of powdered sugar; mix well. Add lemon juice and remaining powdered sugar; mix until powdered sugar is completely dissolved and then add zest.

* As soon as crust is finished, remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 300°F. Immediately pour lemon mixture over hot crust. Bake completely, about 30 minutes; cool, and cut into 24 bars. Yields 1 bar per serving.

Notes

* The crust must be HOT when you pour on the lemon mixture.

You’ll need approximately three lemons to yield the amount of juice and zest in this recipe.

You can increase the lemon flavor of these bars by adding more zest or eliminate the zest altogether for a less tart taste. You can also change the flavor completely by subbing fresh lime juice and zest for the lemon.

* Photo from Weight Watchers!

Making Icing...a little trick

So, when making Royal Icing, or Buttercream frosting, it always says to "sift" the powdered sugar. Maybe it's just my sifter, but man, that's a lot of work. Especially if you double the recipe so you are doing 8 cups of powdered sugar. Ridiculous. But necessary for the right consistency.

Well, I have recently learned a new trick. Maybe many of you already know it. But for me, it was great to learn. I learned it from a friend, who learned it from a friend.

Whisking. You whisk the powdered sugar instead of sifting it. It produces the same result...isn't that crazy? And it saves my wrist and my time.

What other tricks of the trade do you know???

Gluten Free Muffins

I found Pamela's Gluten Free Baking Mix.

I decided to use it to make some GF muffins for my Mom and some of Ryan's co-workers. From what I hear, they were yummy!

I just followed the recipe on the package and threw some blueberries into half the batter, and chocolate chips into the other half. I was happy with how they turned out!

Strawberry Trifle

I was spoiled this year on my birthday. My MIL got me a beautiful Trifle bowl. It is from Pampered Chef and the base fits inside with a plastic lid. It's wonderful!

So,I had to make one of my husbands favorite dishes to showcase the new bowl.

It is a Strawberry Trifle from Betty Crocker (click here to see it)





It is so simple and easy!



1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
Water, vegetable oil and egg whites called for on cake mix box
2 boxes (4-serving size each) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
4 cups milk
2 bags (16 oz each) frozen strawberries in light syrup, thawed
1 1/2 cups frozen (thawed) whipped topping
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Make cake as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
2. While cake is cooling, in large bowl, beat pudding mixes into milk with wire whisk about 2 minutes or until blended.
3. Cut or tear cake into 1-inch pieces. In 3 1/2-quart glass trifle bowl, arrange half the pieces, cutting pieces to fit shape of bowl. Pour half of the thawed strawberries (with syrup) over cake; spread with 2 cups of the pudding. Place remaining cake pieces on pudding and around edge of bowl. Top with remaining strawberries and pudding. Cover; refrigerate at least 2 hours until chilled.
4. Spread whipped topping over top of cake. Sprinkle with almonds. Store covered in refrigerator up to 12 hours.

Doughnuts!

So, the new craze I have found is doughnuts. Doughnuts Doughnuts everywhere!

For my birthday my husband got me a couple of the Wilton Doughnut pans (He got them at Sur La Table). I have been talking about making these for so long, he decided I needed to!

So I did. I made some cake doughnuts with a chocolate icing. I took them over to our good friends who were just getting settled into their new place! They turned out yummy!

Here is the recipe I used from Family Circle (I didn't use their glaze recipe, I used one for Better Homes and Garden for chocolate icing):

Vanilla Cake Doughnuts
Ingredients

* 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
* 1/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 4 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2-1/4 cups confectioners sugar
* 3 tablespoons milk
* Sprinkles, toasted coconut, mini chips, cinnamon-sugar
* 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Coat a 6-indentation doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk, sugar, egg, melted butter and vanilla extract until smooth. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; whisk until smooth.

3. Spoon batter into a large resealable plastic bag. Cut off a corner and squeeze batter into prepared indents, about 2/3 full. Smooth tops. Bake at 325 degrees F for 13 minutes, until doughnuts spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan on rack 3 minutes, then carefully turn out onto rack to cool.

4. For powdered doughnuts: Place 1/4 cup confectioners sugar in a sifter and gently sift over cooled vanilla doughnuts. Flip doughnuts; cover with sugar.

5. For white-frosted doughnuts: In small bowl, combine 1 cup of the confectioners sugar and 1 tablespoon of the milk. Stir until smooth. Dip cooled doughnuts into bowl and allow excess frosting to drip back into bowl. Transfer to rack. Top with sprinkles, coconut or mini chips, if desired. Transfer any extra frosting to a plastic bag.

6. For chocolate-frosted doughnuts: Combine remaining 1 cup confectioners sugar, the cocoa and remaining 2 tablespoons milk. Stir until smooth. Dip cooled doughnuts into bowl and allow excess frosting to drip back into bowl. Transfer to rack. Top with sprinkles, coconut or mini chips, if desired. Transfer any extra frosting to a plastic bag.

7. For drizzle: Snip small corner off bags of frosting. Decoratively drizzle over cooled doughnuts.

8. For cinnamon-sugar doughnuts: Toss still-warm vanilla doughnuts in cinnamon-sugar to coat




My cat, Meow decided he needed to check out the doughnuts as well.

Cherry Pie

I love fresh cherry pie. In fact, I think it's my favorite kind of pie. I love when cherries are in season.

Well, they are. And I got them on sale! So I decided for my MIL's birthday celebration I was going to make a cherry pie! I used sweet cherries for it. I also decided I was going to try something new, a lattice top. I was so intimidated by this, but it turned out to be pretty easy. I just followed the recipe from my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook.

The pie looked beautiful. Until I pulled it out of the oven. The crust was perfect. Nice and golden brown. But the cherries were sitting in a pool of cherry juice. Oh no!

After much research I found out that the sweet cherries are a bit juicier. So I revamped the recipe. I used less sugar, and a little more cornstarch. I also added almond extract, lemon juice and some butter. I used a combination of the Better Homes Recipe and this recipe I found from Smitten Kitchen.

The second one turned out much better. There wasn't a puddle of juice, and it was delicious! I cannot wait to make another!