My Version of a PSL

Thanks to my recent coffee obsession I decided to attempt a Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL), and… I succeeded :)

I ended up making a concentrated base that I add to my milk before I steam it.  It works really well, tastes delicious, and is made with real pumpkin.  Plus, I ended up making like five and half cups of base, so I have PSL base for the whole season lol  I used whole milk in this base, but next time I think I might use some sweetened condensed milk and cut the sugar down.

The perfect balance for me so far is four heaping “teaspoons” (the smaller spoons that you eat with at the table) added to four ounces of whole milk that I froth together with one shot of espresso or a couple ounces of strongly brewed coffee.

Below you will find links to formatted recipes cards.  Please let me know how your PSL adventure turns out :)

3x5 Recipe Card

4x6 Recipe Card

P.S.  You can also simply add Pumpkin Pie Spice to your grounds before you brew.  It’s easier and you get a better froth on the milk.  :)

Strawberry Banana Bread

Howdy!

The other day I found a Pinterest post about Blueberry Banana Bread that had a special ingredient in it - Greek yogurt!  I didn't have any blueberries, but I did have strawberries, so what did I make... Strawberry Banana Bread!  Honestly, I LOVE banana bread.  BUT, banana bread is my baking nemesis.  I have tried dozens of recipes.  Everything from old church lady recipes to modern test kitchen recipes.  It always comes out underdone in the center and usually burnt on the edges.  I HIGHLY recommend this bread.  It was easy and delicious!  AND, it came out perfectly!  This is definitely my go-to banana bread recipe from now on.  Thank you so much, Emily!!!!

The batter is delicious, too ;)

My Family's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Howdy!

We all need go-to recipes.  This is my go-to Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  Everyone that tries them loves them.  Warning:  they are addicting.  Their not overly sweet and they stay soft if you store them properly.  The batch is huge so you can definitely share with friends and neighbors (I took half of them to my new neighbors.  The kids were really excited :)).  I recommend using a cookie scoop whenever you dole out cookie dough.  It's an easy way to make sure that all of your cookies end up the same size and baking evenly.

Yummy Pie

Howdy!

I was jonesin' for something sweet and creamy with caramel and chocolate the other day, so what did I do?  Start rummaging around my kitchen!

(For the record in my throwing this and that together I ended up with a massive amount of this stuff.  Enough for a 9x13" pan.  I divided mine so that I could take most of it to some friends.)

I started by making a graham cracker crusted with chopped pecans throughout, pressing it into the pan, and baking at 400¡.  I used about 2 ½ cups (216g) of graham cracker crumbs, 1 ¾ cups (208g) finely chopped pecans, and 1 ½ sticks of melted butter.

Next I made my caramel.  Melt 2 sticks of butter with 8 oz (227g) by weight of brown sugar (forgot to get a cup measure :/ sorry) on medium low heat.  Once the sugar is dissolved, add to cans of sweetened condensed milk.  Stir this constantly (near the end is much more important that at the beginning) until you get a nice caramel color (basically as long as you can stand to stir the darn thing).  Let it cool just a bit and then pour and smooth it over your cooled crust.

(Next time if actually plan to make this dessert, I will use this method instead)

I cheated on my chocolate layer and used a large box of instant pudding mix.

Lastly, I made homemade whipped cream with heavy whipping cream, vanilla, sugar, and cream of tartar (cream of tartar is essential to your whipped cream surviving and not turning into a sweetened cream mess after a few hours).  Obviously I got impatient and didn't wait for my pudding to set up completely, so it didn't turn out as pretty as most of my creations... BUT it was GOOD!

Angel Food Cake - Revisited

Howdy!

Awhile back I wrote about Single Serve Angel Food Cake.  I had a hankering for some again the other night, but I wanted it lighter than it turned out last time.  So what did I do?  Doubled the egg white mixture and add vanilla for a little more flavor.  It was delicious, but next time I will use two ramekins and just a pinch more sugar.  I highly recommend this method if you want a lighter cake, and especially if you want two small cakes :)

French Toast Casserole

Howdy!

The other evening I couldn't for the life of me decide what I wanted for supper.  So I started rummaging around to see what I had in the frig and pantry.  Then I remembered the Amish Cinnamon Bread I still had half a loaf of. And thought French Toast Casserole sounds great!

I went to searching for a recipe.  I found several, but decided to use this one as my guide.  I used half a loaf of Cinnamon Amish Bread (and did not measure) and an 8x6" casserole.  I used buttermilk instead of regular milk and probably way more vanilla (I LOVE vanilla).  Once I added my egg mixture to to the bread I was like no way this is enough.  So I grabbed three more eggs (all I had) and add the same amount of the other ingredients - again with buttermilk and a little more vanilla than called for.  That brought the egg mixture almost to the top, so I let it soak about 10 minutes before I sprinkled with just enough cinnamon sugar to coat the top (not as much as the original recipe calls for) and popped it in the oven until the eggs were firm and the top was beautiful.

I must say is was nummy nummy.  I had a piece warm with syrup almost immediately and then for breakfast the next day ;)  This would be good with about any bread.  I think next time I am going to include the spice into the egg mixture and possibly use cardamom, too.

Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream & Strawberries

Howdy!

Growing up strawberry shortcake was a huge treat (and my mother's favorite), especially when we did it with Angel Food Cake instead of sponge cake.  So when I ran across this recipe for Single Serving Angel Food Cake I knew exactly what was going to happen.  First I made up the dry mix:  1 c cake flour, 1 c powdered sugar, 1 tsp salt.  The original blog doesn't say anything about sifting, but since powdered sugar is always lumpy I sifted the flour and sugar together and then whisked the salt in well.  Then I placed it in a jar with a pretty label :)

Later that night I had a hankering for something sweet so I dipped into the jar.  First, beat 1 egg white with 1 Tbsp sugar and a drop of lemon juice until stiff.  Then, gently fold ¼ c of the dry mix into the egg white.  Place the batter in a greased and sugared ramekin (~2x2x2").  The sugaring is really important otherwise the cake (souffle) can't climbing and rise.  Bake your delicacy at 350* for 20 min (I used my toaster oven).  Cool in on it's side so that it doesn't collapse.

While it was baking I sliced some strawberries and macerated them in a sprinkle of sugar.  Then I whipped a some to DIE FOR chocolate whipped cream.  Place some heavy whipping cream with a drizzle of vanilla in a (preferably) cold bowl  and starting whipping the mess out of it.  Once it starts to thicken up add a tablespoon or two of cocoa powder, at least a teaspoon of cream of tartar (so that you can store the leftover without it turning into a runny mess), and a healthy helping of sugar (trust me it will take more than you think to cut the bite of the cocoa powder).  And until it is your desired stiffness - I tend to like mine really stiff.  You now have a chocolate whipped cream.  It will taste like a dark chocolate mousse pretty much if you don't have a heap of sugar and just enough to cut the bite.

Once my cake was cool I plated it up with some strawberries and chocolate whipped cream and DUG IN!  It was delicious and will definitely become a staple around here. :)  And it the jar of mix will make great gifts!  I have a label ready to go for you below.  Just right-click, save image, size it to your jar in Word or something similar, print, cut, stick, and your good to go!

Tangy Chocolate Spice Cake In A Cup

Howdy!

I love watching Food Network.  It is on pretty constantly at my house, whether I'm watching it or it is just background noise it is my go to around here.  Lately, I have been on a "single serving" dessert kick, hope you don't mind. lol  What happens when these two things mix?  A new dessert recipe that I just had to try... Tangy Chocolate Spice Cake in a Cup!  Paula Deen (one I don't normally watch per se, but I do love her recipes) was making a Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake.  It was a step or two beyond everyday baking and made a HUGE cake.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, I am sure at some point I will make the inspiring delicacy.  But for now I just wanted something small, quick, easy, and scrumptious.  The result is my Tangy Chocolate Spice Cake in a Cup.  See below :)

As far as spices go, do NOT get hung up on using cardamom.  The cake will be good with cinnamon or another spices.  BUT, cardamom is AMAZING and I highly recommend adding it to your spice cabinet.  It is what cinnamon hopes to be when it grows up and it adds a beautiful complexity to this little cake.

Tangy Chocolate Spice Cake In A Cup

½ T butter

2 t  sour cream

3 T sugar

1  egg

splashvanilla

pinch cardamom

¹/₁₆ t  baking powder

2 t  cocoa

2 ⅓  flour          

In at least a 12 oz. coffee mug, melt and cool butter. Whisk in sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Whisk in sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and cardamom (or spice of choice). Add flour and mix well.

Microwave about 90 seconds.

*WARNING*

This recipe grows!  So don't use a small mug. 

Also, it pops out easily (otherwise I wouldn't have ;) )

Mmm… Hummus

Since I’m going to be home for awhile and I know that I will be snacking, I decided to have some more health conscience snacks options around.  I have never really had much hummus, but I hear about it all the time.  Pinterest is inundated with everybody’s favorite recipe for the creamiest, most flavorful, most authentic, most whatever hummus.  After looking through some different pinned recipes, I hopped to HEB like a good little bunny and got what I was missing – mainly sesame seeds for Tahini & chickpeas (or garbanzo, depending on the part of the world you’re in).  Which recipe did I use you ask?  None of them. lol I took the sum of the knowledge I gathered and made my own.  Is it authentic?  I do not know nor do I care.  Is it delicious? Why yes, yes it is.  And that, I care about.

I started by dry toasting 4 oz by weight (why so exact? Because I bought 4 packs of sesame seeds and they were 1 oz each.  By the way, this equates to nearly a cup by volume.) in my toaster oven.  Then I ground them up in my food processor.  Once they were nice and mealy I started adding extra virgin oil a couple of tablespoons at time.  I think I ended up using just shy of 1/4 c.  The point though is that you’re looking for a nice paste consistency.  As far as extra virgin vs any other olive oil… you can use what you like but keep in mind that you’re not cooking this so you the better the olive oil tastes, the better your hummus will taste.




Now to make some hummus (which I am devouring snacking on as I write up this post :) ).  I poured/scooped most of my Tahini out of my food processor and just left about 2 or 3 heaping tablespoon.  Then I added my lemon juice, some garlic, and about a tablespoon of oil and gave it a werr.  Now it was time to add my chickpeas.  I used one 15 oz can that I drained over a bowl, so that all of that flavorful canning liquid wasn’t lost. Next, I pureed the mess out of the peas.  Once I was happy that the were satisfactorily mashed into submission, I added the other tablespoonish of oil.  Then about a tablespoon at a time I added the canning liquid until I had a happy consistency.

Now it was time to amp up the flavor.  I added salt to my taste, but felt something was still missing.  So, I went to the spice cabinet.  I added oh, I’d say about a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder and a heaping teaspoon of cumin to the mix, which made me happy, happy, happy.
I’ll tell you what this stuff is creamy, addicting, cannot-get-enough-in-your-mouth good and pretty darn healthy :)