Sugar Free Pound Cake

Sometimes I get requests to make things for people with dietary issues. When this happens, I always feel a bit bad because I don't make sugar-free, gluten- free, vegan etc. treats so I don't exactly have a stock of recipes to go to. So now I'm trying to experiment with some of these recipes so that no one gets left out. My first recipe was this sugar free pound cake.

What you need:
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups Splenda granular
1/4 teaspoon
1 cup butter, softened
6 large eggs
1 (8 oz) carton sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Before making your cake, I suggest slicing up some strawberries and coating them in Splenda. Sweetened strawberries and whipped cream are the best toppings for pound cake.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan or a 12-cup bundt pan; set aside. Combine flour, Splenda and soda in a large mixing bowl; cut butter into flour mixture with pastry blender until crumbly.

Combine eggs, sour cream, and vanilla in a small mixing bowl; add 1/4 of the egg mixture to flour mixture; beat on low speed with an electric mixer until blended; beat at medium speed for 30 seconds or until batter is smooth, stopping to scrape sides. Repeat process 3 times.

Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, cool completely on wire rack.

I'm not sure how I feel about this cake. Like I said, I've never made sugar free treats before. I found the texture to be a bit strange, but that could be the Splenda. While the ingredient list called for granulated Splenda, it mentioned Splenda baking blend within the directions. I tried the granulated kind for this attempt, but I think I'll use the blend next time.

However you like to top your pound cake, I hope you enjoy!

Best of luck and happy baking!
Rosie

Source: recipezaar

"Close Enough" Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Sometimes things I bake don't come out quite right. And you know what? That's okay. It's frustrating but at some point I have to take it in stride and just enjoy treat, even if it's not perfect. That's what happened when I attempted to make these red velvet brownies. They came out pretty ugly but, did my family still eat and enjoy them? Indeed they did.

What you need:
1/2 cup butter
2 oz dark chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Butter 8x8 square pan, line with parchment and butter parchment. In small, heatproof bowl, melt chocolate and butter together. Stir until combined and very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and food coloring.

Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add flour and salt and stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.

This is where my I'm going to veer from the directions I followed. Instead of spreading all of your batter, save about a third of it. Spread the rest in the bottom of your pan.

Prepare the cheesecake mixture. Beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Distribute eight dollops of chocolate batter. Using the brownie batter you set aside, spread over the cheesecake mixture. Now dollop the rest of the cheesecake batter on top of that. Using a butter knife, drag through the batter in order to swirl. Bake for 35- 40 minutes until edges are brown, cheesecake is set and a knife inserted comes out clean.

This is how my brownies looked.

This is how they looked on the recipe.

I really think that by following my modified directions, the brownies should actually turn out marbleized. However, I was significantly unimpressed even with the taste of these so I don't feel the desire to make another batch. They're a bit bland in my opinion and I think there are many better brownie recipes out there.

Sunday Morning Banana Nut Muffins

I have this constant craving for muffins. It's a bit of a hassle really. They say that muffins are terrible for you but I just can't get enough! My all time FAVORITE muffin is banana nut. So when I had one of those "Omg, I need to make some muffins!" moments, I knew exactly what kind I was going to bake.

What you need:
3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon espresso or strong coffee
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted or raw

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix your butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla

Sprinkle the baking soda and the salt over the mixture and stir in. Add the flour, mix until just incorporated. Fold in the walnuts.

Pour mixture into prepared muffin tins. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

Oh my. Those are some sexy muffins.

Butter these babies up and enjoy.

Good luck and happy baking,
Rosie

Source: Simply Recipes

Bye Bye Texas Coconut Swirl Brownies

Spring break has already come and gone. It went so fast I hardly even knew it was happening. It was great to see my family, my boyfriend and some of my friends. My best friend since middle school is actually leaving for the military this month and I'm not sure when we're going to see each other again. I have to say, she's probably the coolest person ever and I can't wait to show guys a little something we cooked up. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until April for that little surprise. Sorry guys.

I did manage to get some baking done before I left. I had to make my nephew's birthday cake so it was a hectic time, but I also made some things just for fun. Including Martha Stewart's coconut swirl brownies.

What you need:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut up into small pieces, plus more for the pan
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 large egg white
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square pan, line with parchment paper and then butter paper. Stir together 1 tablespoon sugar, sweetened condensed milk, coconut, egg white, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla in small bowl.

Melt butter and chocolates in a double boiler. Let cool slightly. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk remaining 3/4 cup sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs, whisk until smooth. Stir in remaining two teaspoons of vanilla. Add flour mixture, stir until well combined.

Spread 1/3 of chocolate batter evenly in bottom of pan. Drop dollops of batter over the chocolate, about a tablespoon each.

Spread the remaining batter over the coconut then dollop any remaining coconut mixture over that. Using a butter knife, gently swirl coconut mixture into the batter by running the knife lengthwise and crosswise through the batter. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out with a few crumbs, but not wet. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes and then lift onto wire rack to cool completely.

These brownies were pretty tasty, but they certainly were not my favorite. I'm a fudgey brownie kind of girl and these were definitely cakey. I would have liked to taste more coconut and I may add coconut extract the next time I make these. However, these are definitely better the next day as they get gooier. But who is that patient?

Good luck and happy baking!
Rosie

Source: Martha Stewart Cookies

Four Layer Pudding Delight

I'm late, I know. But let me explain myself. Last night I finished Mockingjay, the last book in the Hunger Games trilogy.  And by last night I mean 6 o'clock this morning. After closing the book, I was complete emotional wreck. It's true. The books have that affect on me. So after sleeping in until 12:30, here I am slightly groggy and ready to talk pudding.

Four layer chocolate delight is a pretty common dessert around here. It's simple to make and produces a large amount of servings so it's great for holidays, picnics etc. However, when my mom decided to make it for a church luncheon on day, she experimented and made it with lemon. It was, in a word, AMAZING. Since then, I've been itching to experiments with different flavors. So far, everything has come out delicious making this one of the most highly adaptable recipes I've ever seen.

What you need...

For the crust:
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup plain four
1 cup chopped nuts

For the first layer:
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup cool whip
1 cup powdered sugar

For the second layer:
1 large package pudding, flavor of choice
3 1/2 cups milk

 To prepare your crust, mix the butter, flour and nuts together and spread in the bottom of a 13x9 glass pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until a little brown. Let cool completely.

For the first layer, cream together the sugar and cream cheese. Gently mix in the cool whip. Spread onto the baked crust.

Prepare your pudding. For this batch I used banana and it was oh so good. I prefer cook and serve as it comes out smoother with a stronger flavor. Just make sure to reduce the milk. Be careful when letting it cool- cover it with cling wrap and remove any film that may form. Spread over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining cool whip and refrigerate until ready to serve.

My family and I can't get enough of this stuff. I think banana has been my favorite so far, but I still want to try using coconut or butterscotch. This is particularly easy and is great if you need something to make for an event.

Happy baking and may the odds be ever in your favor ;)
Rosie

Source: Mother Dearest