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Peppermint Patty Brownies + Giveaway!

Peppermint Patty Brownies + Giveaway!

Happy Monday to you!

Today we’re talking holiday baking. Why? Because I was invited to visit the Unilever Test Kitchens in NYC week to participate in a holiday bake-off for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!

I had such trouble coming up with a recipe! I was dead set on white chocolate and peppermint because that screams holidays to me (thanks for Peppermint White Mochas from Starbucks) but the white chocolate just wasn’t working out for me and finally, after 3 failed batches of goodies, I gave up and switched to regular chocolate and made these delicious brownies. The filling is supposed to be like the filling of those York Peppermint Patties and seriously tastes just like it. Yum!

There’s a giveaway below the recipe so make sure you enter! Part of the competition is to get the most votes on this post so please, comment, comment, comment! :P

📖 Recipe

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Peppermint Patty Brownies + Giveaway!

Ingredients

For the brownies:

  • ½ cup 1 stick I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!
  • 8 ounces semisweet chocolate finely chopped
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour

For the peppermint patty:

  • ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 ½ teaspoons peppermint extract
  • 3 cups powdered sugar

For the glaze:

  • 5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
  • 2 tablespoons I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with oil.
  2. To make brownies, in a double boiler or a heatproof boil set over a pot of simmering water, melt I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! and chocolate over low heat, stirring frequently. Once melted, pour over sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine and to cool chocolate down. Add eggs and stir vigorously until everything is combined. Stir in vanilla and salt. Sift in flour and stir just until flour is incorporated.
  3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.
  4. To make peppermint patty, use a mixer to combine sweetened condensed milk and extract. Mix in powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until combined. Spread on top of cooled brownies. Pop in fridge (or freezer) to allow the peppermint to set.
  5. For the glaze, melt chocolate and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! in a double boiler. Spread glaze over peppermint patty mixture. Put in fridge to set.


What about the giveaway? Oh yes.

This awesome giveaway consists of:

Crate and Barrel Bake and Store Brownie Pan
Sur La Table Basics Stainless Steel Double Boiler
Dualt 5 Speed Chrome Hand Mixer
coupon for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! product

To be entered to win, comment and let me know you’re favorite holiday treat. Leave a link if you want!

For extra entries:

  • Like Fake Ginger on Facebook. Come back and leave another comment saying that you did. Also comment if you are already a fan.
  • Follow I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter on Twitter. Come back and leave another comment saying that you did. Also comment if you are already an ICBINB follower.
  • Become a subscriber either by email or RSS of Fake Ginger. (Subscription form is at the very top of the page.) Leave another comment if you did that. Also comment if you are already a subscriber.

Giveaway is open to US residents only, sorry! The giveaway will close on Friday November 12 at 8 am Eastern.

In addition to this giveaway, I’m receiving an all-expenses paid trip to NYC and the Unilever Kitchens.

And the winner is!

Congrats Amy! You should have an email from me! :)

Crusty Italian Bread

I got an email a few days ago from someone who said they couldn’t make a recipe that I posted because they didn’t have a stand mixer. I know that the vast majority of recipes these days are written for stand mixer use but your hands will always be the best tool you have for cooking or baking and it makes me sad that people are overlooking recipes just because they tell you that you need a stand mixer.

For the record, I don’t own a stand mixer. I have a $6 hand mixer that crapped out a few weeks back which means the last time I made cupcakes? I whipped that frosting by hand. By. Hand.

So anyway, that email inspired me to make some bread just in case there’s anyone out there reading who is scared to try bread by hand. Bread is easy and the great thing about it is that it’s very forgiving. See all those bumps on top of my bread? I didn’t deflate the dough enough before I braided it but it still turned out delicious.

This recipe is a 2-day bread but don’t let that stop you from making it! On day 1, you mix up a sponge (the first picture up there) of just flour, water, and yeast. It sits overnight and then one day 2 you stir in the rest of the ingredients. Knead for 5 minutes, let rise, braid, rise again, and bake. Easy peasy, I tell you!

This is a fabulous recipe that produces a crusty bread that’s just as good as anything you’d find at a fancy Italian restaurant. (BTW, anyone else think that a certain chain Italian restaurant’s bread is crap? Who goes to an Italian restaurant and wants soft, airy breadsticks? Give me crusty bread, dangit!) The flavor is simple and perfect. You don’t even need butter for this guy.

P.S. Email me if you need bread help! I promise to help as much as possible without actually getting in my car and driving to your house.

📖 Recipe

0 from 0 votes
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Crusty Italian Bread

Ingredients

For the sponge:

  • 1 cup 8 ounces cool water, about 65F
  • 2 cups 8 ½ ounces all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon instant yeast

For the dough:

  • ½ cup 4 ounces cool water, about 65F
  • 2 to 2 ½ cups 8 ½ to 10 ⅝ ounces all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 egg white mixed with 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

To make the sponge:

  1. Combine all of the sponge ingredients, mixing just till a cohesive dough forms. Allow it to rest, covered, for 12 to 16 hours at room temperature. When the sponge is ready, it will be filled with large holes and bubbles.

To make the dough:

  1. Add the water to the sponge, and mix till smooth. Add the flour, yeast and salt, and knead the dough till it’s fairly smooth but not necessarily elastic, about 3 minutes by machine, or 5 minutes by hand. (The gluten will continue to develop as the dough rises, so you don’t want to develop it fully during the kneading process.)
  2. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 1 ½ hours. To help develop the gluten and distribute the yeast’s food, turn the dough twice during the rising time: gently fold all four sides into the middle, and turn the dough over.
  3. Divide dough in thirds, and roll each third into a 20-inch-long rope. Braid ropes. Set the braid on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise 1 to 1 ½ hours, until just puffy.
  4. Preheat oven to 425F. Gently brush the braid with the beaten egg white mixture and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.

Falafel

Last night when I was making our little falafel balls, I got to thinking about how easy meal prep is when the meal is meatless. There’s no meat to worry about, don’t have to stress over expiration dates (don’t tell me I’m the only procrastinator here), don’t have to pull anything out of the freezer, etc. I just opened the cabinet, grabbed a can of chickpeas, and was ready to cook.

To make this recipe even simpler, I went ahead and processed everything but if you don’t have a processor, just diced your veggies and use a fork to mash the chickpeas. You don’t want a smooth paste so mashing works just fine.

I’ve made these twice in the past 2 weeks. That’s saying something because you know I hate frying things. (I burnt my eyelid last night, thanks for asking.)

We love this recipe, obviously. Sometimes I make pita to go with them and sometimes we make lettuce wraps with broken up falafel, tomatoes, and yogurt sauce. It’s good just about any way you can think of.

📖 Recipe

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Falafel

Ingredients

  • 1 15 ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
  • 1 onion quartered
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 dash pepper
  • 1 pinch cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup panko bread crumbs
  • oil for frying

Instructions

  1. In the bowl of your food processor, add chickpeas, onions, parsley, and garlic (I have a very tiny processor and just did this in 3 batches). Process until pieces are small but haven’t turned into a paste. You want it a little chunky. Pour into a large bowl and add egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and baking powder. Stir together to make sure everything is evenly distributed. Add bread crumbs and combine.
  2. In a large, heavy bottomed pan, heat about 1 inch of oil over medium high heat. When oil is ready shape falafel into balls or patties and fry until golden brown, just a couple minutes per side. Drain on paper towel lined plate.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I have been in a bit of a blogging slump lately. I had a few baked good duds last week and since then, I haven’t had motivation to cook, bake, or blog. It is something that happens to me every few months and it’s one of those things that you really can’t force. But if there’s one thing I know, cupcakes can bring just about anyone out of a funk.

These are amazing. They are a brown sugar cake that’s filled with “cookie dough” (don’t try to bake it) and then topped with brown sugar buttercream. I had worried that the cookie dough part wouldn’t be obvious, that it would just be a sweet cake stuffed with an even sweeter filling but on his first bite my husband said, “This tastes like a cookie!”

📖 Recipe

4.5 from 2 votes
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Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

  • 3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 ½ cups light brown sugar packed
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chocolate chips semisweet or bittersweet

For the filling:

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 6 tablespoons light brown sugar packed
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 7 ounce sweetened condensed milk
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:

  • 3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar packed
  • 3 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

For decoration:

  • Mini chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (about 20). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
  3. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  4. To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.
  5. To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.
  6. To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Mix in the salt, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.
  7. Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips for decoration.

Fried Green Tomato BLT

My husband and I talk about food a lot. What he wants me to make. What I want to blog. What we wish we were eating right this second.

Our last few conversations have centered around tomatoes and how they’re usually too mushy for us. So this past Friday night when I was grocery shopping (too much excitement for you, right?) I sent him a text saying I picked up some green tomatoes and he was nervous.

As soon as I saw the tomatoes I knew what I wanted to do with them. BLTs are one of our favorite meals and I thought a fried green tomato would kind of shake things up a little bit without adding much work to the simple meal.

And they did exactly that. They added a whole new texture with the crispy cornmeal crust that just really put the sandwich over the top. I’m not sure we’ll be able to go back to eating regular BLTs after this!

More Sandwich Recipes

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📖 Recipe

Fried Green Tomato BLT

Fried Green Tomato BLT
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the tomatoes:

  • 2 large green tomatoes, sliced
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup milk
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup cornmeal
  • ¼ cup Panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • about ¾ cup canola oil, for frying

For the sandwiches:

  • Kaiser rolls
  • mayo, mustard, any other condiments
  • bacon, sliced in half and cooked
  • iceberg lettuce

Instructions

  1. Pour oil in a heavy-bottomed pan; heat over medium-high heat.
  2. Whisk egg and milk together in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
  3. On a plate, stir together flour, cornmeal, Panko, salt, and pepper.
  4. Once oil is heated, dip tomato slices one by one in egg and then flour. Make sure tomato is coated in flour mixture and then place in oil. Fry 3 or 4 at a time, making sure not to crowd the tomatoes. Fry for about 3 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown; flip and cook other side until golden. Drain on paper towels.
  5. Assemble sandwiches and enjoy!

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© Amanda Livesay
Cuisine: American / Category: sandwich

Red Velvet Chip Cookies

If you can believe it, I’m not a huge fan of red velvet cake. To me it’s just another chocolate cake and chocolate cakes just don’t do it for me. However, I do love red velvet for the novelty factor. The bright red makes me so happy which it why I had to make these the minute I saw the recipe.

They turned out so good! The outside is crisp but the inside is deliciously chewy. My 3 year old said thought they were brownies – that should give you a hint about how amazingly chewy they are. Do they taste different than regular double chocolate chip cookies? No, not really but like I said, I wanted to make them just because I apparently like wasting red food color.

A few notes: the batter is very stiff. Very stiff. I ended up just pouring heavy cream over it in the final steps to get it to all come together. I estimated how much I used but if you need more, don’t hesitate to use it. You need to be able to easily fold the chocolate chips in with a rubber spatula. Also, if you were to add a small amount of vinegar to the batter, it would bring out the red even more. If you wanted to do that, just replace a small amount of the heavy cream with white vinegar.

📖 Recipe

5 from 1 vote
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Red Velvet Chip Cookies

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ cup heavy cream or milk*
  • 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ⅓ cup cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon red food coloring
  • ½ cup chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and heavy cream and combine until smooth. Beat in red food coloring. Stir in cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
  3. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out 1 tablespoon of dough and set on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
  4. *If you are using liquid food dye, you will need less heavy cream. I suggest leaving the heavy cream as the last step (before chocolate chips) and adding as needed.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip

The most delicious fall dessert dip! Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip tastes just like pumpkin cheesecake without all the work. Dip cookies or fresh fruit!

We love dessert dips and some of our other favorites are Creamy Caramel Apple Dip, M&Ms Brownie Batter Dip, and Peanut Butter S’mores Dip!

You know when you absolutely cannot stop thinking about pumpkin cheesecake but don’t have the energy to make a whole cheesecake and don’t want to spend a million dollars having a single slice of cheesecake Doordashed to you?

That’s what this Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip is for!

It tastes just like pumpkin cheesecake filling so if you dip graham crackers or gingersnaps or whatever your cookies of choice is, it really does taste like a slice of creamy pumpkin cheesecake.

It’s also really easy! Only 5 ingredients and you literally just use an electric mixer to beat them all together.

Ingredients

  • Cream cheese
  • Pumpkin puree
  • Powdered sugar
  • Pumpkin pie spice
  • Heavy whipping cream
  • Gingersnaps and/or fresh fruit for serving

Instructions

  • Using a mixer, beat cream cheese and pumpkin puree until smooth.
  • Add powdered sugar (½ cup at a time) and pumpkin pie spice.
  • Slowly beat in heavy cream until it reaches desired consistency.
  • Keep in refrigerator and serve cold.

How Long Is It Good For?

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip is good for up to 5 days in the fridge. Make sure to store it in an airtight container to keep it fresh for as long as possible – these glass airtight containers are my favorite.

It will firm up in the fridge so I like to let it sit out for 15 minutes or so before serving to get it back to good dipping consistency.

Can You Freeze It?

I don’t recommend freezing cheesecake dip. Cream cheese has been known to change textures once frozen and defrosted.

What To Dip In It?

For this dip, I like to use gingersnaps because the slight spice of them goes perfect with the pumpkin. You could use graham crackers, vanilla wafers, animal crackers, or shortbread cookies!

If you want to do fruit instead of cookies, I recommend apple slices. You could also do strawberries or sliced bananas.

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📖 Recipe

Yield: about 6 servings

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
  • gingersnaps and/or fresh fruit for serving

Instructions

    1. Using a mixer, beat cream cheese and pumpkin puree until smooth.
    2. Add powdered sugar (½ cup at a time) and pumpkin pie spice.
    3. Slowly beat in heavy cream until it reaches desired consistency.
    4. Keep in refrigerator and serve cold.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 177Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 26mgCarbohydrates: 36gFiber: 2gSugar: 32gProtein: 1g

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© Amanda Livesay
Category: snack

Snickerdoodle Pinwheels

Back for week 2 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies! I’m not going to lie, I’m already having trouble coming up with cookies! I did 25 days of holiday treats last December and used most of my favorite recipes and others that I’d wanted to try for awhile.

I was inspired by my snickerdoodle cupcakes but wanted something different from the usual snickerdoodle. These turned out just as I’d hoped and they might just be the cutest cookies I’ve ever seen.

The dough is almost a sugar cookie dough but it includes cream cheese which I think belongs in all snickerdoodles. It gives the cookies a softer texture and just a slight tang that you probably wouldn’t notice if it wasn’t pointed out to you. The cinnamon sugar gives it the classic snickerdoodle flavor and you could even take it one step further and dust the tops of the cookies with the mixture, although it would cover up the pretty swirls.

The cookies are a little more involved than regular cookies. My advice is to generously flour your work surface. I skimped on the flour and ended up having to piece the dough together as I rolled it. So use more than you normally would and use a pastry brush to dust any excess off.

It’s a great cookie though and one that just about anyone would enjoy. I look forward to making it again once the holidays get here!

📖 Recipe

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Snickerdoodle Pinwheels

Ingredients

For the cookies:

  • ½ cup unsalted butter softened
  • 3 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder

For the cinnamon mixture:

  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon butter

Instructions

  1. Cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla; beat until combined. Sift in flour and baking powder. Mix just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Dump dough onto counter and knead 2 or 3 times just to incorporate any leftover flour. Divide into 2 discs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour.
  2. To make cinnamon mixture, combine sugar and cinnamon. Melt butter; set aside.
  3. Working with one disc of dough at a time, roll out into a 12 x 8 inch rectangle on a floured surface. Brush dough with half of the melted butter. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon mixture. Starting from one of the short sides, roll into a tight log. Wrap in plastic wrap. Repeat with other disc. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
  4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375F.
  5. Use a sharp knife to cut dough into ¼-inch rounds; place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are just slightly golden. Cool on wire rack.


Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes are your favorite holiday cookie as a cupcake! Cinnamon cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and dusted with cinnamon sugar!

I’m not sure what’s going on in the rest of the country but it’s been ridiculously cold down here all week.

We’re used to wearing shorts and t-shirts well into December so I’ve been freezing my butt off and whining to everyone who will listen.

The good news is that the cold snap coupled with me trying to comes up with new Christmas cookie recipes has really made me look forward to the holidays.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes!

I made these cupcakes because I wanted something with the holiday flavors but not really a traditional holiday treat.

Basically, I wanted my kitchen to smell like cinnamon and it worked! Plus I ended up with a bunch of delicious cupcakes!

It’s pretty much just a cinnamon cupcake so to bring out the snickerdoodle flavor a little more, I went with a cream cheese frosting since I use cream cheese in my favorite snickerdoodle cookie recipe.

It worked just as I’d hoped and was absolutely delicious.

📖 Recipe

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes are your favorite holiday cookie as a cupcake! Cinnamon cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and dusted with cinnamon sugar!

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ cups cake flour (sifted)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (plus ½ teaspoon for dusting)
  • 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 ¾ cups sugar (plus 2 tablespoons for dusting)
  • 4 large eggs (room temperature)
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ¼ cups milk

For the cinnamon cream cheese frosting:

  • ½ cup 1 stick butter, softened
  • 8 ounces 1 brick cream cheese, softened
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3 - 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 - 2 tablespoons milk (if needed)

Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
    2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.
    3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

      4. To make the frosting:

  1. In a medium bowl, beat butter and cream cheese until light. Mix in vanilla and cinnamon; add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until all is incorporated. If the icing gets too thick, add milk a few drops at a time until it reaches desired consistency.
  2. To finish, combine remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Either pipe or spread frosting on cupcake. Using a small, fine sieve, dust peaks with cinnamon-sugar.

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© Amanda Livesay
Cuisine: American / Category: cake

 

Funnel Cakes

Our fair comes to town every October. When I was younger, it was the highlight of my year. I never understood why my mom chose to stay home while my dad and I practically made ourselves sick on the rickety rides and fried food. I get it now. It’s lame, it’s crowded, and it’s overpriced. Spencer and I went for the first few years of our marriage and every year we’d walk away mad at ourselves that we spent the money. The one thing we never regretted? A funnel cake.

Funnel cakes are just fried dough, like a misshapen doughnut covered in powdered sugar. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them outside of a fair until yesterday when I fried up a couple in my own kitchen. You know I don’t like to fry things often but sometimes you just want a funnel cake.

They were so much simpler than I expected! The dough was a snap to put together and since there’s no rising, you can fry them right away. It took me no time to whip these up. They were the perfect extra-special afternoon snack. Crisp on the outside but nice and soft on the inside. Everything a funnel cake should be, pretty much.

A couple notes: I don’t own a funnel so I used a pastry bag with the end snipped off. It worked fine but I recommend only adding a cup at a time to the bag because the dough will leak out of the bag while you’re working. I also don’t own a thermometer so to test the oil I just dropped a teeny bit of dough into the oil. If it floats to the top pretty quickly, that means the oil is ready.

📖 Recipe

0 from 0 votes
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Funnel Cakes

Servings 8 6-inch cakes

Ingredients

  • 6 cups vegetable oil or shortening for frying
  • 1 ½ cups 12 ounces milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups 8 ½ ounces all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons ⅞ ounce sugar
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup 3 ounces powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Heat oil or shortening to 375F in a very deep, heavy pan with at least 3-inch-deep sides.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together the milk and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Stir into the egg mixture until smooth.
  3. While covering the funnel hole with 1 hand, pour in 1 cup of batter. Star from the center of the frying oil and, in a swirling motion, pour batter in concentric and overlapping circles to make a 6- or 7- inch round.
  4. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Pizza Spaghetti

Whenever I make a simple pasta dish like this, I go back and forth on whether to post it. It just seems so not exciting compared to cupcakes and cookies and bread. But then I remember that through all of last year, my most visited page was a recipe for a very simple, slow cooker pasta dish so I guess that means that you guys are on the hunt for quick, easy meals.

This one is really easy. To make it easier, I used a jarred pasta sauce but feel free to use a few cups of your favorite homemade sauce. The meal came together quickly and by the time the spaghetti was done boiling, the meat sauce was done and ready to be stirred in.

My boys all loved it. The 3 of them had it for lunch and then dinner with no complaints. It was a fun twist on spaghetti that I’m sure we’ll be having over and over again.

📖 Recipe

0 from 0 votes
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Pizza Spaghetti

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces spaghetti
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 pound Italian sausage casings removed
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 26 ounce jar Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 small package pepperoni about 25 slices
  • 8 ounce package Italian blend shredded cheese

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
  3. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sausage and onion; crumble sausage and continue to cook until sausage is no longer pink. Add garlic and saute until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add pasta sauce and tomato paste; stir to combine. Add spaghetti. Slice half of pepperoni in half and add to pasta mixture. Stir in half of the cheese. Pour pasta into a large baking dish. Top with the rest of the cheese and pepperoni.
  4. Bake for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let cool slightly before serving.

Congo Bars

Every once in a while I find a recipe that needs to be made right away. This was one of those. I found the recipe and within hours it was cooling on top of my stove.

I’m not really sure what a congo bar is but it’s pretty much a blondie. Maybe a little more cake-like than your average blondie, but a blondie nonetheless. Most congo bar recipes I found called for chocolate chips but I went with white chocolate because I love the combination of white chocolate and coconut. If you prefer the regular stuff, I’m sure it would be just as delicious.

Another great thing about this recipe is that it’s the first recipe where I haven’t had to double the vanilla! I double the vanilla (and salt!) in almost every cookie or bar I make but these guys call for so much that doubling it would have been insane, even for me.

If you’re looking for a quick, easy, and delicious treat to make today, these are perfect. I’m already looking for another excuse to make them!

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Congo Bars

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
  • ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup white chocolate chips
  • ½ cup walnuts chopped
  • ¾ cups sweetened flaked coconut

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment or aluminum foil. Spray with oil.
  2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Beat butter and brown sugar together until combined. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Pour flour mixture into butter mixture and stir until just combined. Use a spatula to gently fold in white chocolate chips, walnuts, and coconut. Pour mixture into the prepared pan.
  4. Bake for 20 – 24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire cooling rack. Remove by pulling on side of parchment or aluminum foil. Cut into squares and serve.

Beautiful Burger Buns

The other day I needed hamburger buns but didn’t want to spend $2 on a pack of them when I had all the ingredients I needed to make my own already in my kitchen. I know, homemade buns aren’t an option for everyone but if you have the time, they are a great way to shave some money off your grocery spending AND insure that your family isn’t taking in unnecessary preservatives.

These are my favorite homemade buns. They’re soft, so soft – I wish you guys could reach out and touch that picture. They’re like little clouds. And so delicious. The recipe calls for either onion powder or dried onion which gives them just the faintest onion smell and taste.

If you have the time, you must make these. I have made the dough in the bread machine before so there’s an option for those of you who might be a little afraid of yeast or just don’t feel like kneading. Just trust me, these are good!

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Beautiful Burger Buns

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 ¼ – 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon yeast
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder or ½ teaspoon dried minced onion

Instructions

  1. Combine all the ingredients and mix and knead them together – by hand or mixer – until you’ve made a soft, smooth dough. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and let it rise for 1 hour.
  2. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each piece into a flattened ball. Place the buns on greased baking sheets, cover, and let rise 30 – 40 minutes, until they’re quite puffy.
  3. Preheat the oven to 375F. Bake the buns for 12 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Remove them from the oven and cool them on a rack. Split and use for burgers or sandwiches.

Cowboy Cookies

Last week I was in the mood to bake cookies which, if you haven’t noticed, is a rarity around here. I’d rather bake a pan of brownies or a cake or pretty much anything besides cookies. Cookies get on my nerves. You have to bake pan after pan of them and the whole process just drags on for hours. Not my thing.

Anyway, back to the cookies. I tweeted that I was in the mood for a cookie with a ton of oatmeal and everyone suggested either ranger cookies or cowboy cookies. I’m not really sure of the difference – I think ranger cookies are supposed to have Rice Krispies and M&Ms whereas cowboy cookies just has chocolate chips, or in my case, chocolate chunks. I went with the cowboy cookies since I had all the ingredients for that one.

These cookies are fabulous. I love oatmeal cookies that have tons of stuff in it (not just oatmeal cookies with 3 raisins) so these are right up my alley. Coconut, chocolate, walnuts, every bite has something in it. The kiddo loved them, too. I made a half batch and they were gone within 2 days!

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Cowboy Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats not instant or quick-cooking
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
  • ¾ cup walnuts
  • ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
  • Vegetable-oil cooking spray

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Into a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.
  3. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
  4. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Beat in oats, chocolate, walnuts, and coconut until just combined.
  5. Coat baking sheets with cooking spray; line with parchment, and spray parchment. Using a 1 ½-inch ice-cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto prepared sheets, about 3 inches apart.
  6. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges of cookies begin to brown, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks to cool 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Banana Pudding Ice Cream is everything you love about banana pudding as an ice cream! Creamy caramelized banana ice cream with vanilla wafers mixed in.

Growing up I always confused banana pudding and banana splits.

Don’t ask me how, I just did.

I would request Blue Bell’s Banana Split ice cream thinking that I was asking for Banana Pudding and then I would be so disappointed when my beloved ice cream had cherries in it.

It happened every single time.

No more disappointment for me.

I can make my own banana pudding ice cream that is every bit as good as Blue Bell’s, maybe even better.

It really tastes like I took a big pan of banana pudding and put it in the freezer. It’s safe to say that it’s my new favorite ice cream.

Ingredients

  • Sugar
  • Cornstarch – this creates a nice, thick base for the ice cream.
  • Milk
  • Whipping cream
  • Egg yolk – using the egg yolk in the base of an ice cream, creates a really rich and thick base.
  • Vanilla
  • Bananas – you are going to bake these with butter and brown sugar so that they caramelize and add even more flavor to the ice cream.
  • Brown Sugar
  • Butter
  • Vanilla wafers

How To Make Banana Pudding Ice Cream

  • Make ice cream base. Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt together first 3 ingredients in a large heavy saucepan. Gradually whisk in milk and cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 10 to 12 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat.
  • Combine. Whisk egg yolk until slightly thickened. Gradually whisk about 1 cup hot mixture into yolk. Add yolk mixture to remaining cream mixture, whisking constantly. Whisk in vanilla extract.
  • Cool. Cool 1 hour.
  • Prep bananas. Combine bananas, brown sugar, and butter in a 2-qt. baking dish. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes or until browned and softened, stirring after 10 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes.
  • Combine. Coarsely mash banana mixture; stir into cooled cream mixture.
  • Chill. Place plastic wrap directly on cream mixture, and chill 8 to 24 hours.
  • Freeze. Pour mixture into freezer container of a 1 ½-qt. electric ice-cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.
  • Add cookies. Before transferring ice cream to an airtight container for further freezing, stir in vanilla wafers.

How Long Is It Good For?

Homemade ice cream is best within a week of being made but will remain edible for a couple months.

I like to store my ice cream in these containers to keep it fresh for as long as possible.

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📖 Recipe

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Banana Pudding Ice Cream is everything you love about banana pudding as an ice cream! Creamy caramelized banana ice cream with vanilla wafers mixed in.

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 medium-size ripe bananas cut into ½-inch slices
  • ⅓ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 cup coarsely crumbled vanilla wafer

Instructions

    1. Whisk together first 3 ingredients in a large heavy saucepan. Gradually whisk in milk and cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 10 to 12 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat.
    2. Whisk egg yolk until slightly thickened. Gradually whisk about 1 cup hot cream mixture into yolk. Add yolk mixture to remaining cream mixture, whisking constantly. Whisk in vanilla extract. Cool 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
    3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400F. Combine bananas, brown sugar, and butter in a 2-qt. baking dish. Bake 20 minutes or until browned and softened, stirring after 10 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes
    4. Coarsely mash banana mixture; stir into cooled cream mixture. Place plastic wrap directly on cream mixture, and chill 8 to 24 hours.
    5. Pour mixture into freezer container of a 1 ½-qt. electric ice-cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Before transferring ice cream to an airtight container for further freezing, stir in vanilla wafers. Sprinkle more crushed wafers over top before serving.

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© Amanda Livesay
Cuisine: American / Category: frozen goodies