Trip to Washington, D.C.

I've been in a blogging slump lately as far as baking or cooking, but I went on my first trip to Washington D.C. in April. I had hoped to see the cherry blossoms in bloom, but they bloomed early this year and there weren't too many to be found. I had a great trip though with so much to see and do.

Cherry Blossoms

Union Station

Capitol Building

Washington Monument

White House

White House

Arlington Cemetery

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

National Cathedral

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Senate Building

BANANA CREAM PIE

Sunday's dinner included burgers on the grill with potato salad and baked beans. I made this banana cream pie for dessert.

BANANA CREAM PIE

1 pie shell, baked and cooled
3 cups half and half
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons butter
3 medium-sized bananas
Cool Whip

Banana chips for decoration

In a medium saucepan stir together sugar, cornstarch, and salt.  Add half and half and eggs.  Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil and thickens (about 5 or 6 minutes).  Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Stir until smooth.  Use your favorite pie crust and pre-bake and cool.  Place a layer of cream filling and slice 1-1/2 bananas followed by cream filling and the rest of the bananas.  Chill.  Cover with Cool Whip or meringue.  Add baked banana chips for decoration.

SOPAPILLA CHEESECAKE BARS

We recently moved our office to a new location. We decided to do a meet and greet with our new 'neighbors' in the other side of the office. We had hamburgers and hot dogs and all the trimmings. I have had this recipe saved for a long time. It's been around a while but I just now managed to try it out. I had two people ask for the recipe so I think it is a good one for a pot luck.

SOPAPILLA CHEESECAKE BARS

2 cans Pillsbury Crescent rolls
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush melted butter inside a 9 x 13 pan. Remove 1 can of dough and press seams together and line the pan. Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Pour over bottom dough. Unroll second can of dough and press seams together and lay on top of cream cheese layer. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Cool and put in refrigerator to chill. Cut into squares.

Marble Cake

It seems most of my posts are about birthday cakes at work. The problem is it's hard to blog about them unless it is something new. I had never made a marble cake so I went searching for one and found this one on a blog I had in my favorites Baking Bites. I found that it's tricky getting the chocolate mixed with the vanilla batter though.

BLACK AND WHITE MARBLE CAKE

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9×13-inch baking pan. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, cocoa powder, hot water and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Whisk to combine and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla and sour cream. Working in two or three additions, alternate adding flour mixture and milk to butter mixture (ending with addition of flour), mixing until no streaks of flour remain. Scoop out 1 cup of cake batter and stir into cocoa mixture. Spread white batter into prepared pan. Top with chocolate batter and drag a knife through to create a swirling pattern (don’t over marble, though!). Bake for 32-36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar and cocoa in a medium saucepan and whisk until cocoa is dissolved. Add butter, milk, corn syrup and salt, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a boil (about 10 minutes). Continue boiling; stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature (approx 1 hour). Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla and pour on cake. Frosting will spread easily and will set up itself after a few minutes.

Carne Guisada

Carne guisada is a dish I almost always have when we go to lunch at our local Taqueria. I've wanted to make it for a while and went online to see how to do it plus talked with some people at work who have made it. I have to say I think I got it pretty close. Except for the beans, rice and flour tortillas, this was a good match.

3 tablespoons oil
Approximately 2 pounds stew meat
1/2 small onion chopped
Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
A shake or 2 or of cumin
2 tablespoons flour
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can beef broth

Season meat and in a large pot cook the meat and onion in the oil until no longer pink and onions are translucent. Sprinkle a couple tablespoons of flour over meat. Add tomatoes and broth. Cook over low heat with a lid for 2 hours stirring often. I added a little flour and water at the end to thicken up the gravy. This makes a rich gravy when done. Serve with rice, beans and flour tortillas for scooping up the yummy meat and gravy.

Black Magic Chocolate Cake

There are probably 100's of recipes for chocolate cake. I have several here on my blog that I've done and all were good but I think this might be one of the best according to my trusty taste-testers at work. Don't let the addition of a cup of black coffee put you off with you as it helps enhance the chocolate. I should have taken a picture of the inside, it is truly dark chocolate it's a very moist cake. I baked this in my new Nordic Ware pan that has snowflakes on it and had planned to dust it with powdered sugar but sadly that didn't work out and I had to top it with some frosting to cover up the top.

BLACK MAGIC CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong black coffee, cooled
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer. Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed for two minutes. Batter will be thin. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x13 pan or two 9 inch cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes for a 9x13, or 30-35 minutes for layer pans.

FROSTING
1/2 stick butter
6 tablespoons cocoa
6 tablespoons milk or cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter and cocoa and stir until smooth. Add cream and vanilla. Pour mixture over powdered sugar and mix well. Add milk if too stiff. Frost cooled cake.

Banana Pudding

I recently had my son's girlfriend's family over for dinner. This was requested for dessert. I think I have finally found my true recipe for banana pudding with this one.

BANANA PUDDING

4 egg yolks
4 Tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 box Nilla vanilla wafers
3 bananas
Cool Whip or whipping cream for topping.

In a sauce pan mix egg yolks, cornstarch, sugar, milk and vanilla. Mix well with a whisk. Stir constantly for about 10 minutes until mixture starts to thicken. Remove from heat. In a glass bowl start out with vanilla wafers, then bananas, then pudding. Repeat layers. Place in refrigerator for several hours until cooled. Top with Cool Whip or whipped cream and a final layer of vanilla wafers. Even better the next day.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Christmas baking continues. I couldn't find my Mom's peanut butter cookie recipe. This isn't quite it, but I think this will do.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw for a sparkly effect).

Mix sugars and shortening together until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Mix in peanut butter until smooth. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together. Add to creamed mixture. Scoop dough onto cookie sheet and criss-cross with a fork dipped in water. Sprinkle sugar over and bake at 375 for 13 minutes until lightly browned.

Extreme Brownie Cookies

My first Christmas party tomorrow evening. I am taking along these cookies. I found this recipe on Cook Eat Share of which I am a member. I'm not a big fan of chocolate, but if you are these would definitely do the trick. Here is my version.

EXTREME BROWNIE COOKIES

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
1 stick butter
3 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup toasted chopped pecans

Melt chocolate chips and stick of butter. Set aside to cool. Using a mixer beat the eggs and vanilla until frothy. Slowly add the sugar and beat until mixture ribbons off beaters (about 3-4 minutes). Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture. Mix flour, salt and baking powder. Add to batter and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. At this point the mixture is like thick cake batter. Chill until set. Scoop mixture into walnut-sized balls (I used a cookie scoop) and place onto parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes. Let the cookies cool a bit before taking them from the cookie sheet as they tend to crack. Makes 4 dozen.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COCONUT MACADAMIA COOKIES

I was looking for new cookie recipes for this holiday baking season. I got this one looking through the Pioneer Woman's website Tasty Kitchen. I couldn't find macadamia nuts in my little one-horse town so I substituted toasted pecans. These are a crispy/chewy chocolate chip cookie. I think the macadamia nuts would have made this a much better cookie but these weren't too bad. Here is my version as I made them.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COCONUT MACADAMIA COOKIES

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup toasted macadamia nuts (I used toasted pecans)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In your mixer bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes). Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until smooth.

Mix in the flour mixture until just combined and then stir in the chocolate chips, coconut and nuts.

Take double the amount you would make for a cookie form it into a ball in your hands. Hold the ball with both hands and break it apart in half, like you are cracking an egg. Place each half, craggly-side up, on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, making sure to leave plenty of room for the cookies to spread.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the cookies are just barely golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave on the cookie sheets to cool at least 10 minutes.

Tres Leche Cake

We celebrated my son's birthday this weekend. Per his request he wanted a tres leche cake. I went in search of a recipe and found one on A Farm Girl Babbles which was interpreted from an Alton Brown recipe. I always thought a tres leche cake would be too 'wet' but surprisingly the cake soaks up all that liquid and makes a good cake.

Here is my version.

TRES LECHE CAKE

For the cake:
1-3/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
5 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the glaze:
1 12-oz. can evaporated milk
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half and half

For the topping:
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 9 x 13 pan with Pam.
Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
Place the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Decrease the speed to low, and with the mixer still running, very slowly add the sugar. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl, if necessary. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix to thoroughly combine. Add the vanilla and mix again. Add the flour mixture to the batter in three batches and mix until just combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread evenly. It will seem like a small amount of batter for a cake. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Poke the top of the cake all over a lot with a fork. Allow the cake to cool completely and then prepare the glaze.

For the glaze:
Whisk together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and the half-and-half in a medium bowl. If you have a bowl with a pour spout, that works great! Once combined, pour the glaze over the cake. It will seem like a lot of glaze. Take your time and let it keep soaking in as you pour. The cake will not completely soak up the glaze until it has sat overnight. Place it in the refrigerator and finish the following day.

For the topping:
Place the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment on low speed, whisk together until stiff peaks are formed. Increase mixer to medium speed and whisk until thick. Spread the topping onto the cake. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Sheet Cake

One of my favorite blogs in my Google Reader is Jenny from Picky Palate. She recently posted a recipe for this Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Sheet Cake. Pardon the picture, I dropped my camera and it sustained an injury so I took this with my Blackberry. We had a party at work for Halloween and I took this for dessert. Our theme was a Slumber Party and we all wore our comfy pajama pants and slippers to work. We had a popcorn machine and we hooked up a DVD player to a projector and watched Poltergeist. We also had nachos and pizza. It was a fun day and we all decided we'd love to wear our pajamas every day to work!

CINNAMON ROLL PUMPKIN SHEET CAKE

1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
3.4 ounce box Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
1/2 cup sour cream
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream or milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a large jelly roll pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Place cake mix, eggs, oil, milk, pudding, sour cream and pumpkin into a stand or electric mixer, beating until well combined, about 1 1/2 minutes. Pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly.
Place butter into a microwave safe bowl and melt, about 30-40 seconds. Add brown sugar and cinnamon to bowl, mixing until combined. Drizzle mixture evenly over cake then take a knife and run it through to swirl.
Bake cake for 30-35 minutes, until cooked through and remove. Place powdered sugar and cream into a large bowl and mix until creamy and smooth. Drizzle over warm cake then let cool for 20 minutes before cutting into squares. Refrigerate if not serving same day.

Church Lady Strawberry Cake

Sorry for the messy picture but I forgot to snap one before everyone dug in. I call this Church Lady Strawberry Cake because I think it is in most every church fund raiser cookbook I own. Another birthday at work and the birthday girl said she liked strawberry so I brought this.

CHURCH LADY STRAWBERRY CAKE

1 package white cake mix
1 package (3 ounces) strawberry Jello
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup mashed strawberries with juice

Strawberry Icing
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup mashed strawberries with juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine cake mix and dry Jello in a large bowl. Beat in oil, eggs, water, vanilla and strawberries. Pour into 9 x 13 pan sprayed with Pam. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool and frost with strawberry icing.

For icing, beat the cream cheese and confectioners sugar together until smooth. Add strawberries and juice and vanilla until creamy. Frost top and sides of cake.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

A birthday in August for a coworker and I thought I'd try my hand at a chocolate chip cheesecake. My first time trying one and it was pretty good. This one doesn't rise really high and is a pretty dense cheesecake. It reminds me a little of the cheesecakes you buy at Sam's or Costco.

CHOCOLATE CHIP CHEESECAKE

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour


Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter. Press onto bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan. Set crust aside.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add sweetened condensed milk. Beat well. Add vanilla and eggs, and beat on medium speed until smooth. Toss 1/3 of the miniature chocolate chips with the 1 teaspoon flour to coat (this keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the cake). Mix into cheese mixture. Pour into prepared crust. Sprinkle top with remaining chocolate chips.
Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour. Turn off oven (do not open oven door) and leave the cake in the oven to cool in the oven for another hour. Remove from oven and cool completely. Refrigerate before removing sides of pan. Keep cake refrigerated until time to serve.

Banana Bars

I needed a dessert recently and had some ripe bananas to put to use. I found this recipe on a 'Best Ever Cookie Collection' site. I love a quick recipe that doesn't even require a mixer.

BANANA BARS

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed bananas (2 to 3 very ripe medium-sized bananas)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with Pam. In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the bananas , vanilla and pecans. Stir until well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, spreading it out evenly. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled you can sprinkle with powdered sugar. I just made a quick cream cheese frosting for them.