Taco Melts

I'm usually more of a dessert than main course type gal, but I've had my eye on this Pillsbury recipe for a few months now. It's basically a meal consisting of ground beef, refigerated biscuits, and taco seasoning mix. Does it get any easier than that? The biscuit wraps are tender and flaky and the filling is packed with flavor and suprisingly (delightfully) spicy. It only took about 35 minutes from beginning to end and if you already  have some pre-cooked ground beef on hand, it will be finished even quicker! Just add the seasoning and salsa. Now, when I first pulled these out of the oven  I was a little apprehensive from the look of them. They looked nothing like the neat and crispy biscuit melts posted with the recipe on the website. Instead, they were more pale, plump, and all over the place. Once I opened that baby up though, I knew that I had done good. I'm not the only fan of this recipe, my fellow diners enjoyed these as well. Even after dinner was finished and the dishes were cleaned and the reruns of USA television shows were on, I continued to get compliments. Of course, I have to give 90% of the credit to that cute pillsbury dough boy and his buttermilk biscuits.

Pillsbury Grands! Taco Melts

1 package Old El Paso taco seasoning mix

2/3 cup water

1/2 cup chunky salsa

1 lb lean ground beef (at least 80%) cooked, drained

1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury refigerated biscuits (any variety)

1 cup shredded mexican cheese blend

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and grease.

2. In medium saucepan, cook taco seasoning mix, water, 1/2 cup of the salsa and cooked ground beef until thickened and water is absorbed.

3. Press each biscuit into 6-inch round. Fill with taco mixture and 1 tablespoon cheese. Fold dough over filling and press to seal. Place on greased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

And since I do love treats, I topped off my night with vanilla bean ice cream, hot fudge, and M&Ms. A little dessert never hurt a girl.

Red, White, and Blue

I don't know about you, but to me it doesn't quite feel like summer until we've had the Fourth of July festivities. Something about the barbequing, the drinks, the warm night, and the family getting together really does it for me. Not to mention the fireworks! Oh, and I love any excuse to bake! Even though I don't really need one to begin with.. at least this way I don't eat all the goods by myself (which I've been known to do..) I decided that I would bake festive vanilla cupcakes frosted with red, white, and blue buttercream and some fried strawberry pies. The fried strawberry pies were sort of a last minute thing, I originally wanted to bake individual cherry pies but time literally flew by that day and I already had the ingredients for the strawberry pies and they were so simple to assemble. All it is is strawberries, cornstarch, sugar, and *gasp* refirgerated pie crust! In the end, I had so much strawberry filling left over that I was able to cone out the middle of each cupcake, fill them, and reassemble before frosting them with this rich vanilla bean buttercream. I have to say, the strawberry mixture along with the vanilla cupcake was absolutley DELICIOUS. You see that? You see what I did there? I put it in capital letters to help you understand the explosion of taste that was going on in my mouth with every bite.  I might never eat another cupcake again unless its filled with this fruity goodness (okay.. that might be a little lie so don't hold me to it!).

Fried Strawberry Pies

Courtesy of Southern Living

2 cups fresh strawberries, mashed

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated piecrusts

Vegetable oil

Powdered sugar

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring strawberry mixture to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened. Let cool completely.
2. Roll 1 piecrust to press out fold lines; cut into 9 circles with a 3-inch round cutter. Roll circles to 3 1/2-inch diameter; moisten edges with water (*I used egg wash*). Spoon 2 teaspoons strawberry mixture in the center of each circle; fold over, pressing edges with fork to seal. Repeat with remaining piecrust and strawberry mixture.
3. Place pies in a single layer on a baking sheet, and freeze at least 1 hour.
4. Pour oil to a depth of 1 inch into a large heavy skillet; heat to 350°.
5. Fry pies, in batches, 1-2 minute on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels; sprinkle with powdered sugar.

I know, I know.. The red came out very pink, but I ran out of food coloring! It's American enough for me though!

MmMmMm...........strawberry filling!

Vanilla Cupcakes
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Zest of 1 large lemon
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.

Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream
Courtesy of Cook's Illustrated
2½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons heavy cream

1. In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds.

2. Using a paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into butter and beat mixture at medium-high speed to combine, about 15 seconds.

3. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully incorporated, about 30 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 20 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

(this buttercream is so good, I could eat it from the bowl!)

Red Velvet Cuppycake

I had a magnificent lunch this afternoon with my mom at Elephant Bar. Their crab cakes are the most divine morsels of food that I have ever put in my mouth. And on top of that their served in a rich mango sauce that is to die for. Please, don't even get me started on the seared ahi and ginger. After eating this delicious meal and feeling pretty good from my Passion Mai Tai, I was perusing the dessert menu my eyes landed on a Frosted Red Velvet Cupcake. It looked good in the picture, but we thought to ourselves 'why spend money on something that we can easily bake at home?'.. so we bought some red food coloring and the rest is history! The recipe comes from Paula Deen so you know that not only were the cupcakes moist but they were fluffy and rich in flavor. Red Velvet isn't my favorite flavor for cakes and I never really go out of my way to make it, although I have in the past and this recipe definitley puts the others to shame. We decorated them with a standard vanilla buttercream instead of the traditional cream cheese frosting, since it was easier to throw together at the last minute. Besides, I've never ever been a fan of cream cheese frosting unless its piggy backing something carrot flavored.

Grandmother Paula's Red Velvet Cake

Courtesy of Paula Deen

2 cups sugar
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

2 eggs

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 ounces red food coloring

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare muffin pan by lining with cupcake holders.

2. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter, beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Mix cocoa and food coloring together and then add to sugar mixture; mix well.

3. Sift together flour and salt. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Blend in vanilla. In a small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar and add to mixture.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from heat and cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

1.Mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

2. Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Meyer Lemon Triangles

If it's true what they say and we are what we eat, than tonight I am a lemon. I baked these lemon traingle bars for a get together we had at my sister's house this afternoon. I thought that since tomorrow is the first day of summer and the weather is so bright and warm this time of year that lemons would be a perfect way to kick things off. Originally, I was going to bake a lemon pound cake, but the 1 1/2 hour baking time just wasn't going to fit into the schedule. These lemon bars are a sinch to make and can be finished in under an hour, prep time included. They were excellent, from the delicate crust to the rich lemon filling to the powdered sugar on top. Personally, I could not stop munching on them. And that is why tonight ...I am a lemon.

Meyer Lemon Bars

Adapted from Sugarcrafter

1 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
3 tablespoons lemon juice (about 3 Meyer lemons)
2 teaspoons lemon zest (from about 2 of the Meyer lemons)

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, powdered sugar and salt. Stir in the melted butter and then press the dough into a greased 8x8 inch pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crust turns light brown.
3. Reduce the heat to 300 degrees.
4. In another medium bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, eggs, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
5. Pour the lemon mixture over the crust and bake for 20-25 minutes.
6. After removing from the oven, lightly dust the top with powdered sugar.
7. Cool completely and then cut into squares. Then cut each square diagonally to form triangles.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Coffee Cake

I've always been a fan of a good warm oatmeal raisin cookie. I'm a fan of the texture and I enjoy the spurts of chewy raisin. Another fan of oatmeal raisin in the house is my dad. Actaully, he is more of an oatmeal raisin enthusiast. It has always been his favorite cookie and guilty pleasure and he makes no secret of it. Since it's Fathers Day weekend, I thought it would be nice to bake this Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Coffee Cake for him. The plan was to bake this morning so that he would be able to eat it for breakfast (cake for breakfast again Grace?) however due to extenuating circumstances I put it together last night. My poor dad, by the time he woke up this morning more than half of it was gone. But thats what being a dad is about right? making sacrafices for your kids. Secretly, I think he had a few pieces in the middle of the night like every one else did. This cake is very simple and the buttermilk really adds to the moist texture. The raisins in the middle of the cake spread over the cinnamon topping mixture tastes fantastic! If you have a food processor I recommend using it for the topping so that it isn't too coarse. I used my hands and as you can see from the pictures that it is a little lumpy and didn't bake into the cake very well. It's still very delicious though and full of cinnamon and butter goodness!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Coffee Cake

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup quick cooking oats

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling-Topping

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2/3 cup raisins

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Flour a 9 inch springform pan. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, and salt.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in 1/3 of the flour mixutre, followed by half of the buttermilk and the entire vanilla. Then, blend in half of the remaining flour, the rest of the buttermilk, and then the last of the flour. Set aside and prepare topping.

3. For the topping, combine the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl and stir well. Rub butter into the mixture with your fingertips (with pulsing with a food processor) until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

4. Pour half of the batter into the prepared springform pan. Top with half of the topping mixture. Evenly sprinkle raisins in a single layer. Pour remaining batter on top and spread carefully to the sides of the pan. Sprinkle all remaining topping over the batter.

5. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow cake to cool on wire rack until it is room temperature before running a knife around the edge and removing springform.

Buttermilk Breakfast Cake

I love the weekend. I especially love Sunday mornings. Nothing beats lounging in your bed, reading the paper, drinking coffee, and of course eating a delicious breakfast (preferably while still in the aforementioned bed). This morning I treated myself to this Buttermilk Breakfast Cake. What is that you say? Cake for breakfast ? Yes, of course a cake for breakfast! And the best part is that this moist cake starts from a box, so it's super easy and quick to whip up in the morning.

Buttermilk Breakfast Cake

Southern Living Magazine

For the cake:

1 (18.25 oz.) white cake mix

1 cup buttermilk (low fat works just fine)

1/2 cup butter (I used unsalted)

5 large eggs

3 tbsp. light brown sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tbsp granulated sugar

Buttermilk-Vanilla Glaze (see recipe below)

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 to 2 tbsp buttermilk

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat first three ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer 1 1/2 minutes or until well blended; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

2. Stir together brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Grease a 12 cup bundt pan; sprinkle with 1 tbsp granulated sugar.

4. Spoon one third of the cake batter into prepared pan; sprinkle brown sugar mixture evenly over batter. Top with remaining batter.

5. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Cool cake in pan for about 15 minutes. Remove cake from pan and cool for 20 minutes. Drizzle Buttermilk-Vanilla Glaze over lightly warm cake.

Buttermilk-Vanilla Glaze:

1. Stir together first 3 ingredients and 1 tbsp buttermilk until smooth, adding additional buttermilk if necessary for desired consistency.

Who doesn't want to start their morning eating a slice of tasty cake drizzled with a sugary glaze?

Chocolate Chip Cookie #10

Well look at this: elevn whole days into June and not one baking adventure to show for it! June is shaping up to be a crazy month and I never have been great with time management.. Anyway, I'm bringing myself back with some chocolate chip cookies! Chocolate chip cookies from Alton Brown to be exact. All week I was debating what I would bake Friday night and as the week shaped up to be more and more hectic all I could think about was the warmth and comfort of a fresh homemade chocolate chip cookie. Let me just say that I think I failed somewhere between the egg yolks and the folding of the ingredients so the texture was a little different, but these cookies were not a dissapointment (and I still ate more of them than I should have). I would say that when you mess up an ingredient and cookie is still delectable, you got yourself a grade A recipe!

By the way, I have no idea why the recipe is titled Chocolate Chip Cookie #10. Is it the painfully obvious "10th cookie" reason or is there another story behind it..anyone know?

Chocolate Chip Cookie #10

Alton Brown's I'm Just Here For More Food Cookbook

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 egg yolks, slightly beaten

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

2 cups chocolate chips (I used semisweet)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. **As soon as you put the cookies in the oven turn the temperature down to 350 degrees (Alton Brown swears by this initial temperature boost).

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, sugars, egg yolks, and vanilla until combined.

3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in butter mixture and fold the ingredients together until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and fold to combine. Be careful not to overmix!

4. Using a spoon, dish out cookies about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper.

5. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for a couple of minutes before transfering to a wire rack.

*Alternate option: For a cookie cake (what!? YUM), dump the dough into an ungreased pizza pan or whatever kind of pan you have and gently press down until the dough is evenly distributed around the pan. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until light gold brown.