TWD - Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies and Oatmeal Spice Shortbread Cookies and Banana Cake w/Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Tuesdays with Dorie is here! Excitement! Flag waving! Okay, maybe no flags. Donna of Life’s Too Short Not to Eat Dessert First is our host this week.

The recipe: Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Dorie also gave us a variation: Oatmeal Spice Shortbreads


I dropped the decorating ball with this batch. My kitchen sizzle was starting to fizzle. I love our baking groups but I also have my own list of "must bake" goodies and rarely do I get to do both. This last week I baked to my hearts content (literally) and learned to cut recipes in half along with freezing extras. Works great!

Dorie's recipe called for bittersweet chocolate. Brainstorm: Use my hidden stash of espresso chocolate along with bittersweet. (I know I am forgetting something.)

All the chocolate was chopped up into little chunks; mixed both shortbread recipes, rolled dough in gallon size Ziploc bags and refrigerated overnight. Took out my handy little kitchen ruler, the basic wood one we had in elementary school, and measured the dough into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Baked ALL the cookies.

There are oodles of cookies! Waited for the espresso shortbread cookies to cool then took a nibble. Immediately remembered what I was forgetting. I do not enjoy the flavor of coffee. I have coffee one morning, Sunday morning, every week and that cup is loaded with Nestle Hazelnut coffee creamer and 1 1/2 t. sugar. I sip 1/2 of the cup and talk a mile-a-minute for the next 2 hours. Weird ritual, I know, but hubby makes coffee on Sunday morning and I feel bad not having a cup. I have tried suggesting he become a tea sipper but he says all my tea cups are just too little for his fingers . . . funny ha but not funny ha-ha.

The shortbread cookies turned out cute but I guess shortbread cookies are not my thing (my first shortbread cookies). I would like to use some of the cookies in a few cheesecake crusts. I have oodles in quart size freezer bags plus Larry loves the espresso ones with his coffee. Personally, after 1 cookie and my 1/2 cup of coffee, I was dropping everything in sight. Making breakfast, I started cracking an egg open, the egg slipped out of my hand and cracked open between the stove and the counter. Interesting.

Donna, thank you for hosting TWD this week. I liked the oatmeal spice shortbread cookies and I know the cookies will be a part of some fun projects in the near future. To get the recipe, go to Donna's site and buy Dorie's cookbook.

I thought I would also share a banana cake recipe. Not to be confused with banana bread. The recipe originally came from Allrecipes.com but I altered it a smidgen. One of the changes was adding 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Makes for a light and fluffy banana cake.

Banana Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

* 1 cup white sugar

* 1/2 cup unsalted butter

* 2 eggs

* 4 ripe bananas, mashed

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1 teaspoon baking soda

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

* 1/2 cup chopped pecans

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FROSTING INGREDIENTS:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9 x 13 inch cake pan.

2. Cream together the butter or margarine and the sugar.

3. Add eggs, bananas, flour, soda, salt, nuts, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour batter into the prepared pan.

4. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.) for 30 minutes. Cool and frost cake.

FROSTING DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream. Frost cake.

Spring/Summer to Busy to Sit Still

Sitting down in front of the computer to post a wonderful recipe, thoughts and ideas, or special events is so much harder to do when the sun is out, beckoning to us. Ashley, my daughter, had her 19th birthday yesterday. I definitely enjoyed decorating her chocolate on chocolate birthday cake and shaped cupcakes. Someone comes into the kitchen and asks you why you are smiling and there are a thousand memories swirling through your mind at that very moment, causing the smile. How do you answer? I think the love you feel is the answer.Then, there is the gardens. Flowers poking out everywhere among the weeds. A person would think the flowers would go into rebellion from lack of care but Washington coast has been swamped with rain. The flower buds have been turning brown before even opening from to much rain. Always makes me feel so sad inside. The sun popped out and so did the petals! Of course I couldn't wait to dig in some dirt.The kitchen always calls to me. Thank goodness I have a large window to look out over nature and my garden while I cook or people in my home might be going hungry. I have long admired recipes involving layers of delicate crepes with light mousse or custard fillings.

Discovery of a recipe called Meyer Lemon Crepe Cake was all I needed to see. I knew we needed to make this dessert. Martha Stewart magazine was the culprit and my family was happy for the inspiration. So was I!

Meyer Lemon Crepe Cake

Time: 90
Serves: 10
Ingredients
CREPE BATTER:
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 1/4 c. whole milk, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 T. pure vanilla extract
6 T. cold unsalted butter, melted plus more, melted for crepe pan
1/4 c. heavy cream to be whipped at the end for topping cake
MEYER LEMON CURD MOUSSE:
1 t. unflavored gelatin (from one 1/4 ounce envelope)
1 T. cold water
4 large eggs plus 6 large egg yolks
1 c. sugar
1 T. plus 2 t. finely grated Meyer lemon zest (from 2 lemons), plus
3/4 c. fresh Meyer lemon juice (5 to 6 lemons)
6 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 c. heavy cream, whipped

Directions:
CREPES:
1. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla. Gradually pour milk mixture into flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Whisk in butter. Pour through a fine sieve into an airtight container; discard lumps. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
2. Lightly coat a 6-inch or 8-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet with butter. Heat over medium heat until just starting to smoke. Remove from heat; pour about 2 Tablespoons batter into center. Swirl to cover bottom. Reduce heat to medium-low; return pan to heat. Cook until edges are golden and center is dry, about 30 seconds per side.

3. Slide crepe onto an overturned plate. Repeat with remaining batter, coating pan with butter as needed, and stacking crepes. Let cool.
4. Place 1 crepe on a flat serving dish. Spread about 1/4 cup lemon curd mousse onto crepe. Top with 1 crepe.

Continue layering crepes and mousse. (use about 15 crepes, ending with a crepe on top.) Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
5. Top crepe cake with whipped cream and if you can find them, candied lemon peel. DIRECTIONS FOR LEMON CURD MOUSSE:
1. Sprinkle gelatin over water; let stand until softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Whisk together eggs and yolks in a heavy small saucepan. Whisk in sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium-low heat, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 10-12 minutes.
3. Remove pan from heat; add gelatin, stirring constantly, until gelatin dissolves and mixture is slightly cool. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, stirring after each addition, until smooth.
4. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing with a rubber spatula to remove as much curd as possible; discard any undissolved bits of gelatin and egg. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto surface of curd to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate until set. at least 2 hours or overnight. Stir curd, and gently fold in whipped cream. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Stir before using. Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Magazine.

SMS - Butterscotch Pralines topping my 3-Layer Fudge Cake

Sweet Melissa Sunday consisted of delicious homemade Butterscotch Pralines this week; chosen by Tess of Cookin Chemist. Tess's butterscotch pralines turned out absolutely perfect so jump on her link and check them out!

I let my mixture whip for a little too long so I had a stiff batter. I did not realize the error until I had scooped them all out onto my silicon mat. I was tired at the time and thought the candies still tasted delicious but I did not have the pretty layout. Serves me right for making these while finishing up my 3-layer fudge cake and starting an in-depth dinner. (I was making BBQ ribs, cornbread and portabello fries.)Group Recipes site has drastically changed, a site many of us cooking and baking people are addicted too and I found out that 12 of my 202 posted recipes are missing photos. One of the recipes is my Triple Layer Fudge Cake so I baked the cake to get photos to post. The cake worked perfectly as a showcase for the pralines (or so I think).

Triple Layer Fudge Cake

Time 35 minutes
Serves 8
Ingredients:
**CAKE BATTER**
3/4 c. butter
2 1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
3 eggs
3 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
3 c. sifted cake flour
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. ice water
**DATE CREAM FILLING**
1 c. milk
1/2 c. chopped dates
1 T. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1 t. vanilla
**FUDGE FROSTING**
2 c. sugar
1 c. light cream (half-n-half)
2 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate, grated

How to make it
**DIRECTIONS FOR CAKE BATTER**
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla with mixer. Add eggs, beating until light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate and blend well.
Sift together dry ingredients; add alternately with water to chocolate mixture. Pour batter into three 8" layer pans which have been greased and lined with waxed paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in middle of cake comes out clean. Cool. Put layers together with Date Cream Filling. Frost with Fudge Frosting.
**DIRECTIONS FOR DATE CREAM FILLING**
Combine milk and dates in top of a double boiler.
Combine flour and sugar and add beaten egg, blending until smooth. Add to hot milk. Cook, stirring, until thick. Cool.
Stir in nuts and vanilla. Spread between layers.
**DIRECTIONS FOR FUDGE FROSTING**
Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Boil over high heat 3 minutes without stirring. Reduce heat and continue cooking until it reaches soft ball stage (238 degrees). Cool.
Beat until creamy and of spreading consistency. Add cream if too thick.
Spread on sides of cake first and a little over the top edge; frost top last.

Thank you Tess for picking out a fun cooking project for this week! and too check out all my wonderful baking companions on SMS, click on the link: Sweet Melissa Sunday Bakers.

German Apple Cake

Don't you love a moist, comforting dessert that tastes better the second and third day? Especially when the dessert makes enough for 12 people? A dessert that comes from years and years of tried and true baking with love in a Mother's kitchen?

I adore my German apple cake with a light cream cheese frosting recipe just for all those reasons. Stuffed with apple slices, the cake tastes amazing. Cinnamon floats throughout as a mild but definitely present flavor and the cream cheese is not thick; just a thin coating, adding a delicious end touch.The recipe came from my baking friend Janeen's 90 year old mother and ever since the recipe has reached my kitchen (I have no idea how long ago that has been now), has continued in the tradition of being baked with love.

German Apple Cake

2 large eggs
1 cup veg oil (beat with eggs until foamy), add
1-3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla (mix together), then add:
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda (mix all together) add:
4 cups thinly peeled and sliced apples (about 4 – I use Granny Smith)
Frosting:
1 - 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
3 TBL melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees; grease and flour a 9 x 13 baking dish.
Add vegetable oil to eggs in mixer and beat until foamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and mix. Now, add the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Mix together. Add thinly sliced apples by folding in with a spatula. The batter will be very thick but this is normal and there will seem to be more apple then batter. Again, this is what you want.

Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Frosting:
Mix ingredients til smooth. Add a little milk if too thick.

Crab Lasagna Rolls baked in Shrimp Alfredo Sauce and Speedy Hazelnut Bundt Cake

The crab Lasagna Rolls baked in Shrimp Alfredo Sauce may not look gorgeous on the plate BUT the flavors meld wonderfully! The Canadian Snow crab used is slightly sweet mixed in with fresh parsley, freshly grated Parmesan and cottage cheese. The Alfredo sauce makes a large amount and the remaining sauce can easily be used for a separate pasta dinner. Fresh Alfredo sauce is worth the effort to make and once you have tasted the difference, your taste buds will never want to go back to store bought.
Buy a loaf of freshly baked French bread, slice the the center horizontally, add a mixture of 1/2 c. butter (melted), 2 T. olive oil, 4 cloves garlic minced, and 1/2 t. kosher salt (all ingredients mixed and left alone for 30 minutes before applying to the bread halves). Wrap in foil and Bake in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes. Slice and serve with the pasta dinner. Delicious way to sop up the Alfredo sauce!

Crab Lasagna Rolls baked in Shrimp Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:
****START SAUCE WHILE COOKING LASAGNA NOODLES****
Crab Lasagna Rolls:
1/2 pound flaked or lump crab meat
4 regular lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
3 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Additional grated Parmesan (optional)

Shrimp Alfredo Sauce:
1 stick butter
2 onions, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/2 cup minced celery
Garlic to taste
1 pound medium shrimp
1/2 cup flour
2 c. whole or 2 % milk
1 c. heavy cream
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup clam juice
1/4 c. parsley, minced
Salt and white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 c. Chopped mushrooms
1 beefsteak tomato cut into thin slices

Directions For Crab Lasagna Rolls:
Beat the egg. Thoroughly combine crab meat, Parmesan cheese, cottage cheese, egg, fresh parsley and onion powder.Divide filling into 4 equal portions. Spread filling mixture on each noodle.

Roll noodles tightly, and place seam-side down in an 8-inch square baking dish.

Pour shrimp Alfredo sauce over top. Add thin slices of tomato. Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with additional grated cheese if desired. Serve immediately.

Directions for the Shrimp Alfredo Sauce:
In a saucepan melt butter and add onions, green onions, celery and garlic.

Add shrimp and cook until shrimp turn pink. With cooked shrimp, add at the last 5 minutes. Add flour and stir in completely. Add about half the whole or 2 % milk and half the cream. Let simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often. Add more milk and cream to desired thickness. Add Worcestershire, clam juice, fresh parsley, salt and white pepper to taste, cayenne if using and chopped mushrooms.

Simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. Pour over crab lasagna rolls and top with thin slices of tomato.

I do not make a habit of using boxed cake mixes but we enjoy the texture and flavor of this recipe and the cake has become a family favorite over the years. You can change the liqueur to different flavors and end up with the same great results. Amaretto is another liqueur I use for this recipe. VERY tasty!

Easy Hazelnut Bundt Cake

1 cup chopped pecans

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix

1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup Hazelnut liqueur

Glaze Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup water

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup Hazelnut liqueur

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Mix in eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cup Hazelnut liqueur. Beat for 5 minutes at high speed. Pour batter over nuts in pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto the serving dish. Prick top and sides of cake. Spoon glaze over top and brush onto sides of cake. Allow to absorb glaze repeat until all glaze is used up.

Directions for the Glaze:

In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup Hazelnut liqueur.

Chocolate Cake IS Serious Dessert Time!

I have been MIA from my scrap room this week.  Family and work have kept me busy, which was nice.  But I have no such excuses for today. I have spent a big part of the day in the kitchen and I enjoyed every moment (except for the milk splash).  I made a layered salad as a side dish for dinner, which is done is staged steps.  And then I moved on to dessert!   I made this FABULOUS Chocolate Zucchini Pecan multi-layer cake!

For those who may be wondering, I am going to be including an occasional recipe here on my blog.  In addition to paper crafting, I also really enjoy cooking.  I am currently especially enjoying baking, but I will add other recipes as time passes. 

And speaking of baking, I love chocolate cake.  Chocolate cake is the stuff of serious dessert time!  And this cake is better than most.  The layers are sweet and moist.  The zucchini cooks nicely so that it is not screaming "veggies hiding here".  And the nuts are a nice flavor and texture addition.   And the frosting.  OH MY GOSH!  Fluffy, sweet, and creamy.

I am including the cake recipe below, include my adjustments.  This cake would be great with several different types of frosting.  I went with flour paste based frosting, one and one-half batches of my recipe (posted previously).  Yummy.

Chocolate Zucchini Pecan Cake
Ingredients:
• 3 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1.5 teaspoon baking soda
• 1.5 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup (1.5 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 cups grated unpeeled zucchini (about 2 1/2 medium)
• 1 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare three 9-inch cake pans with butter and flour.
Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl; set aside.
Beat sugar, butter and oil in large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions each. Mix in grated zucchini. Mix in chopped nuts. Divide batter evenly into prepared pans.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Cool cake completely in pans.
-Prepare frosting-

Remove pans and bring to room temperature. Frost each layer as you add it to the cake plate.  Spread remaining frositng on the sides of the cake.

SMS - Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake was chosen by Rosy of Rosy Lips and Lavender for this week's SMS. I am late posting today because I thought I would mess with decorating the cake as a Valentines gesture ALONG WITH making the rest of our Superbowl food. By the way, I have a 7 layer dip that is killer and will add to this post later today (homemade Guacamole, spicy refried beans,etc). Rosy - Great Choice! I used a different cream cheese icing for decorating purposes BUT my kitchen was so darn hot, my icing kept getting WAY too soft. Even refrigerating the icing meant disaster so all the cake decorations are droopy. Bummer because the cake could have been so much more.
Thank you Rosy for a great choice and please visit everyone's Sweet Melissa Sunday blogs to see how talented these wonderful bakers really are!

Happy SUPERBOWL SUNDAY everyone!

TWD - Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes

Little milk chocolate bundt cakes, so cute. Kristin of I’m Right About Everything Chose this weeks TWD and we loved them.The centers filled with Dorie's swirl of pecans, cocoa and sugar is a delicious addition in texture. I only had to changes; one was adding an almond and toffee bit milk chocolate bar as part of the premium milk chocolate and the second was making a different glaze recipe. I did make Dorie's glaze recipe first but the glaze did not turn out shiny. In fact, the glaze stiffened too much, along with loosing the shiny aspect, and I could not get the glaze onto the mini bundt cakes without causing damage. The photo in Dories Baking cookbook looks perfect and I wanted perfect. I jumped onto the Internet and found a place called the Recipelink.com. The glaze found at this site offered a recipe for a perfect shiny glaze, even after refrigerated. The flavor is delicious and the glaze does stay shiny.

The recipe from Recipelink.com:

Shiny Chocolate Glaze

Yield: scant 2 cups

1/2 cup coffee or water
1/3 cup sugar
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp corn syrup
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp coffee or vanilla extract

Directions:
Over medium heat, warm the coffee or water, sugar and chocolate in a medium saucepan.
Add the corn syrup and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice.
Remove from the heat. Add the butter and coffee or vanilla extract.
Pour into a bowl. Let cool to room temperature, at which point it will thicken. If you pour it over a cake before it has cooled, it will slide off! If it thickens too much, place over hot water to warm gently.

I also had this brilliant idea of adding chocolate curls to the top. This is the only photo I could get where the miniature shaped cake did not look like a shapeless pile of curls and chocolate. =)

Thank you Kristen for choosing this week's recipe - loved them!