Happy New Year!

Hi!
I hope the start of 2012 has been fabulous for you and yours!  :o)  With all the holiday parties you attended did you taste some thing that you'd just like to have a little more of?  Have you asked a friend for a recipe? :)  Well, of course the saying goes, "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery."

This post is thanks to a friend of mine who ate a dessert I made recently.  It was something I'd seen before but, made in different forms.  For this particular get together I made them bite-sized and entirely from scratch.

I didn't think too much of it prior to her asking for the recipe but, after typing it up, all I have to say is don't be scared by the length.  ;)  Once you make it you'll be able to use the techniques in other recipes. I've also included options to cut down the effort. So, give it a try. :)

Without further ado, here are my

Pecan Caramel Cheesecake Bites...

 Ingredients

• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• dash salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup chopped, roasted pecans -  while the oven is already on & preheated if you put the pecans in for about 15 minutes - stirring in between, they will roast nicely.

Directions - Preheat oven to 325 degrees

• 1. In large mixing bowl beat cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar on medium speed of electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and salt. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until just combined after each addition.

Easiest Method:  If you'd like to make it into just one large cheesecake you can purchase 1 Keebler® Ready Crust® Graham Pie Crust at the store. Place crust on baking sheet. Pour in cream cheese mixture. Bake at 325°F about 25 minutes or until knife inserted into filling 1 inch from edge comes out clean.

If you'd like to make your own crust :)  Which is what I did, you can. Then you can decide what size you want to make.  Which is how I came up with just the bites.

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter , melted
1/3 cup light brown sugar or 1/3 cup white sugar , for less sweet crust (this is what I used)

I added some of the roasted pecans to the graham cracker crust and saved the rest for presentation. :)

Directions:

Mix ingredients together. 

Press onto bottom and up sides of pan until desired size.

Bake silver pan at 350F for 8-10 minutes, or dark pan at 300F for 8-10 minutes

Fill!  Then bake according to the original recipe. 

I used my 24 cup mini cupcake pan for the bites. I baked the crusts first and then I added the filling, baked again and then I put it in the fridge.

After they set for a few hours, I took them out and put them in an air tight container for storing.  

Before serving I took them out about 10 minutes prior. Placed them on the serving try.  

I topped them with Caramel Syrup (I like the Smucker's brand Caramel Sundae Syrup) and the remaining roasted pecans.

Here they are:

Catching Up...

So, Baker Mom went on break for awhile (a long...while it seems) she suddenly realized... she wrote some and never posted and then lost track of time and didn't write...wasn't home...didn't bake... time to get back to it all she thinks. ;-) 

After a hectic summer which included 3 weeks in SoCal (thanks to my daughter) and a quick trip to visit my folks in LA (read: Louisiana heat :)) I'm finding myself needing to play catch up.

So, here goes... you may wonder why my family moved itself to beautiful SoCal for a stint, well... the kiddo applied and got into the summer program through John's Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth.  She chose to go to a camp called "Be A Scientist." Hence we decided to head out to LA, the closest place offered near home for her age and grade level. Road Trip!!!

Here's some tidbits that I'd written while there...enjoy!    :)   

Being here in LA has been awesome! We are thoroughly enjoying the summer, the beaches, the food and of course the myriad of outings possible.

My daughter is enjoying her classes, the projects and activities at camp during the day and the outings in the evening are fun for her too. :)

So, here's my little guide to LA; the places we've been to and the things we've done. Maybe you or someone you know will find it helpful in some way. :)

Places:

Santa Monica - Pacific Park & Pier, Farmer's Market (a must to check out!), Santa Monica Place, 3rd Street Promenade
Hollywood - Walk of Fame, Kodak Theater, Disney Soda Fountain and Shoppe
Manhattan Beach - We stayed close enough for several evening outings, enjoyed the beach atmosphere a lot
El Segundo - has all your usual stores and restaurants, of course a Costco with gas too...
Thousand Oaks - nice residential area... just stayed with family so didn't go out.  But, I did hear that there is a Charming Charlie there, but didn't check it out...

Restaurants: 

Corner Bakery - Manhattan Beach
LA Food Show - Manhattan Beach
Cozymel's - El Segundo
The Farm - The Grove
Islands - Manhattan Beach
Panchanga - Manhattan Beach
Healthy Hummus - Manhattan Beach
Cafe Crepe - City Walk
Louie's Pizza - Universal Studios
Pizza Anitca - Santa Monica Place
Disney Soda Fountain & Shoppe - Hollywood
La Monica's Pizza -  Westwood
Diddy Reese - Cookies!!!   - Westwood
The Natural Cafe - San Luis Obispo

Coffee Shops:

Peet's - San Luis Obispo
Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf - (2 locations: Manhattan Beach (nice) & The Grove (not so nice))
Intelligentsia - Awesome coffee!!  -  Venice, CA
Groundworks - Hollywood

Farmer's Markets: 

Thousand Oaks - kid & hubby went with my cousin... so don't know first hand... but, they came back with delicious strawberries so thumbs up for it 

Santa Monica - went twice - on my own and then made the hubby take some time off from work to go again  :)  -  Amazing place!  Heard that I'll see chefs stop by to pick their produce but, didn't believe it until I actually saw them there.  Great place to hang out, people watch, oh ya and of course shop.  Since we had a kitchen, I was able to cook meals with my fresh produce - could really taste the difference  :)

Shopping:

The Grove - American Girl Place - My daughter couldn't wait to go here!  Ok, that is an understatement to say the least! As her father will tell you.... 3+ hours and a Personal Shopper later!!!  The American Girl Place is not for the faint of heart!!  ;-)  In more ways than one....  she enjoyed every minute of it though... and so we came home with a new friend....Kanani.  :) 

Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive
Westfield Culver City
Santa Monica Place
The Market @ Santa Monica Place
Third Street Promenade
Manhattan Village

Frozen Yogurt / Treats:

Yogurt Creations - San Luis Obispo - we stopped both ways  :)
Popcornopolis - really never knew one could have popcorn in THAT many flavors!!

Activities/Amusement Parks:

Universal Studios:  Had a blast! It was my 8 year olds first time and I think it was the perfect age to take her... she knew enough about movies, etc... and was game to go on all the rides... helped that she had her older college-aged cousins spend the day with us too - so Jurassic Park ended up being her most favorite ride!!

Sea World:  Lotsa fun!  Enjoyed the shows.  Shamika and I rode Atlantis!! Awesome! We soo would have gone again had the lines not been 1.5 hours+!! long.
Disneyland & CA Adventure:  Our SoCal trip concluded with a 3 Day Park Hopper to the "Happiest Place on Earth!!"  Enjoyed every minute of it because it's one of my favorite places to go to  :P  Also helped that the 405 freeway was closed on Day 1 and Day 2 of said 3-Day Park Hopper. ;)

Beaches:

Manhattan Beach - spent lotsa time here - great place :)
Redondo Beach - caught a mini-concert here on our last night - was great way to end our SoCal stay!

Cookies!!!! Inspired by...

Decorating cookies takes a little practice, patience, a steady hand, and time but, is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it.  There are several steps involved depending on the shape and design but, using an outline & flood method makes it doable. Nowadays there are several helpful tools out there to make it even easier to give it a try. Here are a few I've made recently.  Hope you like them...  :)

Now, more chances than not, you've heard of the very popular game Angry Birds!!! So, here's my 1st version of the Yellow Bird, Green Pig & Red Bird! 



Angry Birds!!



Ready for Tea Time?  Well, here's a tea cup cookie I made for a tea party baby shower favor.  :)



Tea Cups!



And... depending on whether or not you have a younger, say 7-11yr. old child at home, you may have heard about the new up and coming "semi-educational" website for them called Moshi Monsters.  So, after much convincing (on her part!), my 8 year old daughter joined it.  She created a pet and enjoys playing on it with her friends who have joined as well. In addition to the 6 main "monsters" which really aren't "monsters" in the literal sense (some of them are cute, at least I think so) :)  they have lots of baby monsters called Moshlings. (Which apparently I'm told, never grow up!)  Why am I telling you about them? Well, as another wish for her birthday, my daughter wanted me to make Moshi Monster cookies... so, looking at the myriad of them and all my cookie cutters I had to make informed decisions on which ones I could claim that I could re-create. ;-)  Here's my go at them:  Cutie Pie, Dipsy, Hansel, Roxy, Iggy, & Oddie.

Dispy  & Roxy!

Oddie!

Hansel!

Iggy!

Cutie Pie!

Cutie Pie!

Dipsy!

Hansel!

Roxy!

Iggy!

Oddie!

          

And last but, not least...Pinkalicious!! Here are my sparkly star wands inspired by Pinkalicious for a 4 year olds' Pinkalicious party!!  Pretty in pink??  :o)

Star Wands!

Pinkalicious!

Innovative Cake Ideas!

My daughter recently had a birthday and all she Really! wanted was a slumber party with a few of her closest friends from school. This being her (our!) very first one, my husband and I inhaled deeply and agreed to her request.  :)

She proceeded to plan out the details of what was going to happen that fateful (oops, read: exciting!) evening. My responsibilities of course, included providing the food, drink & cake. :) So, me being me, had to find out if there was any kind of cake that was special for a slumber party. :o)

Well....low and behold...  look what I found on one of my favorite sites, Family Fun!  I had a blast making it; it's quite easy actually.  The girls had fun picking out which one they wanted. Although the recipe calls for 5 Twinkies, since there were 6 girls, I placed 6 Twinkies comfortably on top.

Here it is.... maybe you'll give it a try for your child's next slumber party.  It would be really easy to change the icing colors and the hair/face on the wafers to turn them looking more like boys. :)

Slumber Party Cake!

Little girls in their sleeping bags.  :)

Update: Gram's Best Brown Sugar Cake

So, earlier this week I posted about Gram's Best Brown Sugar Cake, for which I had the recipe but, no picture and it had been bothering me. Well, not for long. :o)

An invite to the cousins came at a great time... for me and hopefully for them too. ;-)  As the usual getting together process goes.... invite... date....and then I ask, "what can I bring?" Fully well knowing and keeping my fingers crossed that no regular main dish be asked.  :p  The reply arrives to the notion that I may bring a box of sugar if I would like and they would be happy. ;-)

My chance had arrived...what better recipe to bring than... Gram's Best Brown Sugar Cake!?

Just a note if you try it. I don't add the extra powdered sugar on top.  It is already sweet enough in my opinion. :)

So, here is the picture...  enjoy!  :)

Time flies when you're having fun!

So, April went by in a flash. Time was spent with family and friends and of course the much awaited arrival of Spring Break!!  I did a little baking (Gram's Best Brown Sugar Cake, Zucchini Bread & Biscottis) during my cousins visit and was happy to have company in the kitchen. :)  Here are a few recipes to share from then...

Here's the Zucchini Bread recipe (thanks to Jen K. for it!).  If you're thinking my kid would never go for zucchini in bread, lest you be assured that you can't really "see" the zucchini in it. And if you choose to use the chocolate chips, well then.... the little specks of green magically disappear! :o) 

3 Eggs, beaten
1 cup Oil
2 cup Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
2 cups Grated Zucchini

(if you're short on zucchini add grated carrot works just the same)
3 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Cinnamon
2 cups chocolate chips or nuts, or combination of the two

(after making it a few times, I've come to where I seperate the batter into different batches at this point - a handful or two of chocolate chips in one for the kid and just nuts in the other for us, once you make it you'll get an idea for what your family cares for)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat eggs. Add oil, sugar, vanilla, and zucchini. Beat with an electric mixer.
Mix flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add to egg mixture. Beat well and add nuts/chocolate chips.

Bake approximately 1 hour in 2 well greased and floured loaf pans.

I've made them in loaf pans, mini loaf pans and as muffins, they taste any either way.  :) 

Zucchini Walnut Bread

Gram's Best Brown Sugar Cake is a recipe I found sometime ago in a Kraft magazine. It's a moist and delicious party cake.  Unfortunately, it hasn't stayed intact long enough for a worthwhile picture (note to self: next time, picture first, serve later) ;)

Here's the recipe in any case because, if you make it, you will like it even without my picture. ;) Enjoy!

Which brings me to last week. It was a busy week at my house (I guess like all our houses these days!) Spanish presentation, Teacher Appreciation Week, Cinco De Mayo, and mundane household to do lists that were growing!

For my daughter's Spanish presentation she and a friend were studying Venezuela.  She asked if there was something she could take to class so that their classmates could sample Venezuelan food too. And I of course being me said, "well, let me see." :)  So, after a little bit of research and an apparent passing comment from her teacher, it was settled.  I was trying my hand at Arepas, Venezuelan Corncakes. :) 

Here's the recipe I used and it turned out well. We all liked it at home and a couple of kids in class told me they liked them too.  The teacher told me they tasted good and my attempt was good.  ;)  Apparently, they also make them stuffed with cheese. I will have to try that sometime.  :)

You have to use a special cornmeal for it, which of course (after much shop-hopping) I found only at my local Wal-Mart. So, if you'd like to try it, buy the Minsa brand, it worked. :)  Serve them hot!

Venezuelan Arepas

In honor of Cinco De Mayo and my intent to make something different for our meal with a treat (how convienient), we ended up with Mexican food; enchiladas, veggie "oven fries", and dessert. I had been wanting to try these little bite sized yummy cookies for a very long time. This was my opportunity.  ;) 

Mexican Wedding Cookies!! They're delightful; I wonder why I'd waited this long to try them. :) I've got a few ideas for variations and look forward to updating with them soon. In the mean time...allow your mouth to water or try making these! :)

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Happy Baking & Creating!!

Biscotti - A Twice Baked Treat

Finding ourselves at home on a recent gloomy, rainy Sunday afternoon with a few free hours wondering what to do was much welcomed at our home. :)  Everyone wanted a snack but, nothing at home seemed inviting or interesting to eat. So, my daughter busted out her cookbooks and I, mine. Let's see what what can come up with. Yikes! We both scoured through, but didn't find anything of liking or anything fast enough. After all everyone was already hungry to begin with!

After many rounds of options and missing ingredients we settled upon Biscottis. Unfortunately by now, the coffee had already been drunk but, maybe another cup would have to be made. ;)
 
This is one of my tried and true recipes. It came from a recipe book that was one of those "free book included" books from our very first espresso machine which we received as a wedding present. Although over the years the machine is long gone, I still very much use the recipe book. Funny how things work out sometimes.

I've tweaked it to my family's liking and have started experimenting with different add-ins as well. Try them out with a nice cup of coffee and you won't be disappointed. :) Maybe you'll pretend to be in Italy! ;)

Biscottis

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

Optional add-ins/substitutions:

* 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips OR
* Substitute 1/2 cup Chopped Almonds & 1/2 cup Chopped Dried Cranberries OR
* 1/2 cup Chopped Almonds & 1/2 cup Chopped Dried Cranberries & 1/2 White Chocolate Chips OR
* Add Walnuts, Almonds or Pecans when baking then, melt 4 ounces of Bittersweet Chocolate. (see ** below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a large bowl or mixer bowl, combine the eggs, oils, sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat until well combined. Add the flour mixture, nuts, or other add-ins and mix until combined. Batter will be stiff and slightly sticky.

With floured hands, divide dough into thirds. Place one third of the dough on ungreased baking sheet and form into an elongated loaf about 1 inch think and 3-4 inches wide. (or whatever length you prefer).  It should be of uniform shape and thickness for best results.

Proceed with the remaning two portions of dough. The loaves should not touch each other but, they can be arranged close together.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand 2-3 minutes, leave oven on. Use a sharp knife to cut the loaves into 1/2 inch slices. Let stand 5 minutes, then turn the slices down on one cut side. Return to the oven and bake for 5 minutes, remove the pan and turn the slices over. Bake an additional 5 minutes. Cool the biscotti completely on the pan.

**If you are making the dipped biscotti. Then break the bittersweet chocolate into pieces and place in a medium bowl. Place the bowl in a microwave oven and melt the chocolate on high for about 1 minute or use double boiler method if preferred. The chocolate should be smooth when stirred. Dip one cut side on each slice of biscotti into the chocolate. Place frosted side up on wax paper to dry.

Store biscotti in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks.

Ciao!



Almond Biscotti





Cranberry Almond Biscotti





 

Chocolate Chunk Biscotti