Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Everyday between 2-3pm, my body craves chocolate cake. The cake I crave is not a cake that's saturated in chocolate frosting. I'm talking about a dense/moist/slightly chewy chocolate cake with a few drizzles of chocolate frosting. When I'm not able to fulfill this craving (which is like all the time), my mind goes into daydreaming mode and I start to fantasize about a chocolate cake delivery service at my work and how wonderful it would be if there were ice cream sundae vendors at every street corner. Imagine that. That would be the life!
I also had this thought the other day: Has anyone ever put EAT MORE CHOCOLATE on their New Year's Resolution list? Doubtful.
With a chocolaty dense bundt cake like this, I can't see why that wouldn't be a good idea.
Maybe I should give in to my chocolate cravings more often. Maybe then I could consider myself a chocolate lover.
Spiced Orange Popovers
Ready for my David Letterman impression? I'll do it if you stop staring at my gap teeth!
TOP 10 REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO MAKE THESE SPICED ORANGE POPOVERS:
- They taste like donuts, yet they're not fried!
- They're ridiculously easy.
- Your house will smell like a high-end Christmas candle.
- It's the holidays & you're looking for something festive for breakfast.
- Clove, cinnamon & orange are your best friends this time of year.
- You need an excuse to dust off your popover pan.
- They're light and fluffy. Means no calories, right?
- They're a perfect breakfast, snack or dessert. You could make dinner out of them. (I totally did)
- Your coffee is lonely. It needs company.
- Because I said so!
I should also note that I ate 5 popovers within an hour after I made them....I blame the delicious clove cinnamon orange sugar. Well...that and they were WARM.
It's not like I have to wear a bathing suit anytime soon...
OH WAIT. I do. CRAP!
Coconut Lime Bars
I think you've heard me confess in some other post that I am not a big chocolate lover. Yeah, I said it! I like chocolate, I just don't LOOOVE it like I love desserts starring coconut, citrus, nuts, cinnamon, or fruit. When Christmas rolls around, I have a bunch of chocolate related gifts from people and what do I do with them? I pass them off to my husband, who happily devours anything sweet in nature.
If you were to give me any type of homemade treat for Christmas, I'd happily enjoy a little package of these Coconut Lime Bars. Let me tell you why! Imagine two outrageously chewy cookies (one coconut & one macadamia nut lime) placed on top of each other & smooshed together in bar form. That's what these bars taste like. The bite is AMAZING and that crunch from the macadamia nut? I die.
So when you're thinking of homemade gifts, consider your friends (like me!) who don't go gaga for chocolate. These will certainly do the trick! Besides, your bars will stand out in a crowd and you know how much we want that ;)
Pear Cranberry Walnut Bread
MOIST. Does that word make you cringe? Sorry about that. It looks especially bad when it's in CAPS, huh?
The word MOIST doesn't bother me for some reason. I do, however, cringe at the words ointment and discharge but that's a completely different blog post altogether. To cater to the moist haters, I tried searching on the Google machine for some synonyms and what I found just doesn't cut it.
I wouldn't call this Pear Cranberry Walnut Bread humid, drizzly, soggy, misty, mushy or clammy. It's just dense, sturdy and moist- everything I like in a sweet breakfast/snack bread.
Sweet pears make up most of the liquid base. Cranberries add a little tartness and a pop of color. Walnuts provide good crunch and the lemon zest adds a little perfume into the bread. It's no surprise that a loaf didn't last 24 hours in the Shutterbean household.
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Pear Custard Pie
PREP TIME: 15 min.
COOK TIME: 40-45 min.
What did I during the 40-45 minutes of cook time? A LOT.
After putting the custard pie into the oven and setting the timer, I cleaned up the kitchen, gathered laundry piles, sorted laundry piles and then put a load of laundry in the washer. I ran upstairs, checked my email, glanced at my phone, wrote 2 emails, read my horoscope, checked my online bank statement, sent a silly text message, checked my email again and ran downstairs. I proceeded to squeeze my cats, then I picked up a rogue sock off the floor, placed that sock in the hamper, grabbed a glass of water, glanced at the timer, checked out my eyebrows in the mirror, got the mail and then ran back into the kitchen. I laid a nice tea towel down in preparation for the pie, grabbed a few forks, and realized there was an entire surface of counter that I missed in my cleaning up process and then I waited.
The pie came out of the oven and I stared at it impatiently. I went into my kitchen cabinet and grabbed some confectioner's sugar, brought it over to the sink to load up my little strainer and proceeded to spill some sugar all over myself and the counter (I always do this!). I dusted the top with confectioner's sugar then I dove into the pie and totally messed up the first slice. Oh well. I stood on a chair to take a few shots then I almost fell but luckily I braced myself. I stepped down from the chair and quickly ate the messed up slice. Realizing that my husband would want some, I scooped out a slice and walked over to him happily sharing what I just made.
Not only was this pie a perfectly comforting treat on a chilly afternoon, it was so light and fluffy with just the right amount of sweetness. The pears were incredibly tender! I heard his fork hit the plate a few times and then I heard a slight thud of the plate on the table. I looked over to see that he had stopped. He looked at me apologetically because he didn't want to finish. Then I remembered that he doesn't like custard based desserts. Sad trombone. How could I possibly be mad when the prep time was so short? Look at all I accomplished during that cook time. I guess that means more for me, right? At least he ate two bites.
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Vanilla & Ginger Crumble Rice Pudding
I took the plunge and bought a pound of vanilla bean the other day off the internet. The vanilla arrived in a small box and was vacuum sealed in a plastic bag; it made me feel like our UPS man was a drug dealer. The second I opened the box, my kitchen was instantly perfumed with the heady scent of Tahitian Vanilla. My excitement grew knowing how many recipes I could knock out with this vanilla hoard at my disposal. I quickly flipped through the latest issue of Donna Hay Magazine, knowing that there was a beautiful spread about rice pudding. I located the recipe Vanilla Ginger Crumble Rice Pudding and dove right in.
Creamy arborio rice mixed with vanilla beans, drizzled with maple syrup and topped with crumbled gingersnaps. It's simple and comforting and it was exactly what I needed after spending the morning at a damp & foggy pumpkin patch surrounded by 3 year olds. Think dessert risotto with a slight ginger spike! I promise you won't need a store bought air-freshener when you have the intoxicating scent of vanilla rice pudding cooking your stove.
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Pumpkin Gingersnap Ice Cream
I have a history of not letting things set. This means I'm the worst at letting my nail polish dry, but that's because the second I finish painting my last nail something urgent comes up and I'm frantically trying to navigate through my life with wet polish! An important phone call, a scratch that needs scratching, a knock at the door, my son jamming bread up his nose, or picking up a bowl's worth of Cheerios off the floor are all things that would happen the second I'm done painting my nails.
The reason why I don't often make ice cream is that I'm totally impatient when it comes to letting ice cream set. About 2 hours after I put this ice cream into the freezer for its big deep chill, I dipped a clean spoon in to taste. To my dismay, it wasn't finished but it DID taste totally awesome. Why didn't I just let it set??!
OK so I let it set. Then I scooped out some ice cream, plunked in a lone gingersnap and got right down to business. Creamy pumpkin ice cream studded with gingersnaps and perfumed with hint bourbon? You know you want it! This is the ice cream recipe that made me realize that ice cream really is worth the wait. Perhaps after 32 years of living I will finally figure out patience?
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Banana Donuts w/ Peanut Butter Frosting
Are you sitting down? Good. So, I baked these banana doughnuts to share with you. That's right, baked. I spared a few calories by baking the doughnuts but don't worry I made up for it on the back end. Peanut butter frosting sounds pretty amazing right? What could possibly make it better?
Cue the flashing lights, throw confetti in the air, hug the person next to you because Browned Butter has made its way into this peanut butter frosting. Check out those browned butter bits! That's totally not vanilla bean, it's butter!
A banana bread like doughnut gets glazed with a sweet/savory peanut butter & browned butter frosting. Watch out, you're getting drool on your keyboard!
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