Sweet, High Fiber Scones

Posted by on February 26, 2013 Leave a Comment

I love to start my day off with my coffee and something sweet.  I don’t do it every day, but when I have these, I don’t feel as guilty… they are high fiber, after all.  If you haven’t tried Flaxseed Meal before, this would be a good place to try it.  Flax has healthy fats & is high in fiber.

You can adjust the sugar to your liking.  I like it sweeter, like cake.  I haven’t tried it with a sugar substitute, but I’d like to hear from you if you have!  Here is a blog post about some of the kinds of alternatives to white sugar (not artificial) I’ve heard of over time.  I’d like to try the Sucanat first, I think.

At any rate, this one uses brown sugar, which I love.

High Fiber Scones

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour (or mix half white/half WW)
  • 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup sour cream (you can substitute heavy cream or yogurt)
  • 1 teaspoon strong vanilla extract
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips (or blueberries, chopped fruit, or anything you want in there)
  • 2 cups rolled oats – separated

Procedure:

Preheat your oven to 425ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment, or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, flax, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar.
  2. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it has a, crumbly or pebble-like texture..
  3. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, sour cream, and vanilla extract.
  4. Add the liquid mixture to the flour-butter mixture, and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, blueberries, or mix-in of your choice.
  5. Spread the oats on a cutting board. Gather the dough mixture together and shape into a rectangle  on top of the oats. Pat it out to about 1/2 inch thickness and press down into the oats. Flip it over and press down into remaining oats. (Coat both the top and bottom of the dough with oats.)
  6. Cut the dough into 3 or 4 sections and cut triangle wedges in each section, in whatever size you want.  Move pieces to the prepared baking sheet.
  7. Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

If you want to glaze them (like I did in the picture), do that while they are hot.  Mix up about 1-2 cups of confectioners’ sugar and 1/4 cup of milk and some vanilla extract  until you have a runny glaze.   If it’s too thick to drizzle it, add a touch more milk.  While still on the pan, use a pastry brush to apply the glaze… or just drizzle it on however you want.

 

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Lemon Cupcakes

Posted by on October 28, 2012 Leave a Comment

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Lemon Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1 box Duncan Hines Lemon Cake Mix
  • 1 cup Flour
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • 1 box Lemon Pudding
  • 3 large Eggs
  • 1 cup Sour Cream
  • 1/2 cup Butter, Melted
  • 1 1/3 cups Water
  • 1 tablespoon
  • 2 tablespoons

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325. Prepare your cupcake pans with the liners. This makes about 30-36. Mix together all dry ingredients, including zest.
  • In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients together. Do not over beat.
  • Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones & mix on low-med speed until smooth. Do not over beat or you will end up with bubbles in the batter, making gaps in the cakes. I usually mix about 1/3 of the liquid in until well blended, like a thick paste, then blend in the remaining wet ingredients.
  • Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
  • Bake at 325 (F) for about 15-18 minutes. The timing will vary, so check at 15 & keep an eye on it. The cupcakes are done when a toothpick comes out dry, or when the cupcake bounces back when you touch it in the middle.
  • Let them cool before you add any icing. If you are filling them with lemon curd or anything else, wait until they are cool. Heat will cause filling to melt.
  • These can also be frozen a week ahead of time in an airtight container. Let thaw at least 20-30 minutes before icing.
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Elegant Wedding Cake in Turquoise

Posted by on September 22, 2012 Leave a Comment

My first official wedding cake was a hit!  My sweet niece, Ellen, wanted elegance.  I gave it my all.  It wasn’t without a few road bumps (literally!) and obstacles, but it turned out to be beautiful.  I made the flowers by hand out of gum paste.  The ribbon is made of plastic.

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Hunger Games Party Cake

Posted by on August 17, 2012 Leave a Comment

We are big fans of reading.  One of our favorite book series is The Hunger Games. One of my girls had a party when the movie hit the theaters in March. It was so much fun!

With the release of the DVD tomorrow, I thought I’d post the pics from our party.

If you want to do this start a day or two before your party to let the gumpaste items dry enough.

For the big Mockingjay cake (it was really a big cookie), I printed out an enlarged copy of the image. I cut it out and placed it on rolled out Gum Paste.  (about 1/4″ thick).  Then, I traced it with an exacto-type knife and cut it out.  I pulled off only the extra pieces and let the image sit and dry for about a day.  When it was stiff enough, I spray painted it with food-safe Gold Spray.  Once I had the cookie/cake frosted, I rolled out a big circle of black fondant to place under the Mockingjay.  I made sure the black circle was bigger than the bird image.  Finish it off with orange buttercream with the base of the flames sprayed with red, and the tips sprayed with yellow-food color spray. I used a 1M Wilton tip for the flames.

For the President Snow’s Roses cupcakes, I used Chocolate Buttercream (delish!).  Use this recipe, but don’t add the coffee flavor packet unless you want to.  The roses are Marshmallow Fondant colored red.  You roll out some fondant.  Cut it into 1 by 5 inch strips and roll it into a small rose. (pinch it closed at the bottom as you roll & squeeze off any extra)  I used Wilton leaf cutters for the leaves.  Put a rose on 2 leaves and you are ready to put them on the cupcakes.  You can use any color of roses, since President Snow has a garden full of all kinds of them.

For the disk-shaped bird decorations, I cut gumpaste in circles and let them dry.  I sprayed the gold food-spray on them and let them dry.  To make the bird, I used a rubber stamp I found at Hobby Lobby that was close to what I wanted and used a fine paint brush to fix it up.  I stamped it with black food coloring paste.  (While it is edible, I don’t recommend eating these since the black coloring is so thick that it will make your mouth black all over!)  I used the buttercream icing again on these and sprayed the bottoms red and the tops yellow.

For my Cake recipe, click here.  Use any flavor cake mix in place of the white.

For the Buttercream, click here.

Our other food for the party didn’t make it into photos, but we had various kinds of food mentioned in the book.  Croissants rolled in poppy seeds, basil and goat milk cheese wraps, berries, and a few other things.

For a fun game, we set up an archery target and used toy cross-bows and bow & arrows for some competition & fun.

Let the baking begin!!

 

 

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Pumpkin Scones – A Frugal Treat!

Posted by on August 13, 2012 Leave a Comment

One thing I love-love-love is a sweet treat with my coffee. If you like Starbucks’ pumpkin scone, you might like my version for just a fraction of the cost. You can bake this batch up and freeze them and pull them out as you need them. Total cost of this recipe is about $4 for me. It made about 32 mini-petite size scones. You can make them any size you want. You can get 6-8 large scones from this.
Scone Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (and a little to roll it out on- I used whole wheat for the rolling part)
  • 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup canned 100% pumpkin
  • 3 tablespoons half and half cream
  • 1 large egg
  • 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes or pats

 
Spice Glaze Ingredients:

  • 2 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
  • 1/4 cup milk (any kind)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions:

1. Set oven to 425°F. Prepare baking sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper or a Silpat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
3. In a different bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half and egg.
4. You can use a pastry cutter or a food processor/mixer to cut butter into the dry ingredients. Continue cutting until the mixture is crumbly. Just mix until the mixture looks pebble-like, or very small bits of dry dough.
5. Slowly add wet ingredients into dry ingredients, then form the dough into a ball. If you need to add more flour, just add a little at a time until it is good enough to handle, but not solid.  You want it to be moist!  Pat out dough onto a floured cutting board and form it into a wide rectangle. Cut the dough in half, then half again, making 4 equal squares. Cut through the 4 squares the opposite way so that you have 8 squares of dough. Cut diagonally on each square until you have 32 petite-size scones.  (or cut however you want!)
6. Place on baking sheet about an inch apart and bake for 12 to 15 minutes on prepared baking sheet. Scones should just begin to turn light brown when they are done.  You can also tell by touching one gently.  If it leaves a fingerprint, they aren’t done. BUT, be careful with that.  You could burn yourself.
7. While scones are baking, prepare plain glaze by mixing the ingredients.  Whisk until smooth, or mostly smooth.  You can use a mesh strainer to remove lumps that won’t mix in.
8. When scones are still warm/hot, glaze them.  You can dip them or drizzle or do whatever you want.  I dip mine because I like it all sweet!  You can do this as many times as you want.

Let the glaze dry a little before serving or freezing. You can also freeze them unglazed and add glaze later.
Enjoy!
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Easy Kit Kat M&M cake

Posted by on August 9, 2012 Leave a Comment

Easy!
Make your favorite 2 layer cake. Ice it with chocolate icing.
Surround it with Kit Kat candy bar sticks. (You must get the regular size ones! Fun size won’t work.) Fill it with M&Ms. Top with a sign or anything you wish!

I had to have 5 packages of KitKat bars to make this work. It’s a 10-inch 2 layer cake. I also used a large bag of M&Ms.

Wrap ribbons around it and decorate as you wish!

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

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Lemon-Blueberry Scones

Posted by on July 25, 2012 Leave a Comment

After tweaking several scone recipes to make them more moist, this is what I came up with and it is delicious. As a side note, I think “real scones” are probably supposed to be on the dry side. I don’t like it that way, so I go for a little more moist and sweet.

  • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour, plus a little more for shaping and cutting
  • 1⁄3 cup Sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon Salt
  • 2 whole Lemons, Both lemons should be zested and juiced. Strain seeds out of juice.  (My favorite Lemon Zester)
  • 1⁄2 cup Butter, cold and cut into cubes or thin pats
  • 1⁄2 cup Heavy Cream, cold
  • 1 large Egg
  • 1 cup Blueberries, fresh is preferable, but frozen will work

  • 1⁄4 cup Fresh Lemon Juice, use whatever juice you have from the 2 lemons that you zested. if you need more liquid, add a little cream or milk.
  • 2 cups Powdered Sugar


Ingredients

  • 1⁄3 cup Sugar, this can be reduced to your liking
  • 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
  • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour, plus a little more for shaping and cutting
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon Salt

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together these dry ingredients in a bowl.

Ingredients

  • 2 whole Lemon, both lemons should be zested and juiced. strain seeds out of juice.

Step 2

Zest and Juice both lemons. Keeping the zest separate from the juice. Add the zest to the dry ingredients and blend in until zest is coated in the flour mixture.

Ingredients

  • 1⁄2 cup Butter, cold and cut into cubes or thin pats

Step 3

Using a pastry cutter (or the paddle attachment on a mixer) cut the cold butter into the dry mixture until it looks crumbly, but not too dry. You want the butter to be in tiny bits, surrounded by the dry mixture. Note: If butter is soft, it will not get a crumbly look. It will look more like cookie dough.

Ingredients

  • 1⁄2 cup Heavy Cream, cold
  • 1 large Egg

Step 4

Whisk or blend together the cream and egg. You can add about a half-tablespoon of the lemon juice if you want or you can save all the juice for the glaze. Mix this into the butter & flour mixture until it is well-incorporated.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Blueberries, fresh is preferable, but frozen will work

Step 5

Flour a cutting board with a generous amount of flour. Gather the dough and place it on the cutting board. Flatten it out a little and start folding blueberries into it by hand, being careful not to squish or break the berries. If you do, the scones are not ruined. The color will just be blue-ish due to the berry juices. Another option is to cut the scones first, then add the berries to each scone. I prefer this to make sure the berries don’t break. Flatten dough by hand into a circle or a rectangle until the dough is about 1-inch thick or a little less. For a circle, cut into 8 triangles, as if you are cutting a pie. For the rectangle, cut into 4 equal square sections. Cut those sections in a diagonal direction to make triangles. I like to cut them once more (like an X in each square) to make 16 scones.

Step 6

Place scones about an inch or two apart on a cookie sheet that has parchment paper on it. You can use a Baking spray with flour if you prefer. Bake at 350F for about 18-22 minutes OR until lightly browned around the bottom. Keep an eye on them if you don’t want them to dry out. Cool for about 10 minutes before glazing.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Powdered Sugar
  • 1⁄4 cup Fresh Lemon Juice, use whatever juice you have from the 2 lemons that you zested. if you need more liquid, add a little cream or milk.

Step 7

While they are cooling, mix together powdered sugar and lemon juice. If you need more liquid (you want it to be drizzly, but not watery) add milk. Using a pastry brush, glaze the scones, being careful not to cause the berries to burst. They probably will, and that’s okay. They will still taste delicious. Glaze as many times as you like. I like them sweet, so I use all the glaze.

To view this recipe at KitchenMonki, click here.  Kitchen Monki is a fabulous way to organize your recipes and meal planning.  It has so much to offer!  Check it out!

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Coconut Pecan Icing

Posted by on June 28, 2012 Leave a Comment

My sweet daughter, age 7, heard her VBS teacher say that she didn’t get a birthday cake because her daughter had eaten all of the icing (for German Chocolate Cake) before they could bake the cake.  My thoughtful daughter asked if I would make some birthday cupcakes for this sweet lady who didn’t get a birthday cake.

Not having ever made coconut pecan icing before, I went to my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book and found what I was looking for.  
It was so easy to make!  I had no idea it was this simple.
Here’s what you need:
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar (I used half white and half brown)
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1  egg
1 1/2 cup coconut flakes
1 cup crushed pecans
 
In a medium saucepan, while it is still cool, beat the egg.  Add the milk, sugar, and butter.  (I cut the butter into small pats so it would melt faster, but you don’t have to.)
Once it is all in there, turn the heat to medium and let the mixture boil for 6-8 minutes.  It will start to thicken under the bubbling when it is ready.
Remove from heat and add the coconut flakes and pecans.  Let it cool.  Use on cupcakes or cake.
This makes approximately 2 cups of icing. You can add more pecans or coconut to suit your liking.

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Mother’s Anyday Treat- Frugal Frappuccino

Posted by on May 13, 2012 Leave a Comment

Get out your blender, Magic Bullet, Ninja… or whatever you can find because this is a fun treat to make for yourself or your mom all year round.

 

This recipe makes enough to share, about  three 10-ounce servings.  See notes below recipe on making one serving at a time and for making it Low-Carb… and option that Starbucks doesn’t offer!

 

You will need:

  • 1 package of pudding (any flavor that you like for a frappuccino-I used chocolate the first time.)
  • 2 cups of milk
  • 1/4-1/2 cup of room temp strong coffee, espresso, or Starbucks VIA® (dissolved in water)
  • 3-4 cups crushed ice (Sonic ice is perfect, or you can crush any ice in your blender first)
  • Whipped Cream (optional)

Put of these into the blender.  Keep back just a little of the ice at first, and add more as you go so you can be sure to find the right consistency.  It should be liquid enough to sip through a straw, but not runny… more slushy… and well, frappuccino-y!

The cost of one frappuccino at your local coffee shop is rarely under $5 for a size that’s worth having.  The price of this for the entire recipe is …wait for it… about $2.00, depending on your local prices!!  That’s right.  If you use the link I have for Starbucks VIA® here, each packet is only 59 cents!! (Prices vary every day, so if you see this is still $29.50 for 50 packets, snatch it up! That’s the cheapest I’ve ever seen it! )  Even if you pay $1 per packet, it only adds 40 cents on to the total cost.  In the version in the photo, I used vanilla pudding and Caramel Via.  That was delicious, as well.

For making one portion at a time, just put your powdered pudding mix in a container for storage and use what you need for each single drink.

To make just one:

  • 2-3 Tbs pudding mix
  • 1 cup liquid (I mixed the coffee powder into the milk)
  • Crushed ice- about 1.5 – 2 cups

Mix in up until it’s all fun & frothy.  Add more milk or ice, depending on how you like it.

****For a low carb version, use sugar-free pudding , and use Atkins Creamy Chocolate Shake in place of the milk.  Mix the Via right into it.  It’s not as frugal, but it is an option that SB doesn’t offer as far as I know.  (Please educate me if I’m mistaken!)

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

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Easy Strawberry Cheesecake Bites

Posted by on April 26, 2012 2 Comments

I found this idea on pinterest, although I made it even easier and just a little more delicious.
Note- I’m taking these to a party.  In order to keep these from rolling around on a plate and keep them somewhat upright, I’ve put them in Deviled Egg Trays with Snap On Lids.
.

Now, on to the recipe:
You need-

  • Fresh Strawberries
  • Ready to Eat Cheesecake Filling (found by the cream cheese at the grocery store)
  • Nature Valley Cinnamon Crunchy Granola bars (or any sweet granola)

Find  the best strawberries and wash them. Cut off the green leaves and hollow out the center.

Put some ready-made Philadelphia CheeseCake Filling in a piping bag. (I used a star tip, but you can use none or whatever you want. You can also use a gallon baggie if you don’t have a piping bag.)
Fill each strawberry with the cheesecake filling… make sure to put enough in there! It’s delicious!
I topped these off with a crushed-up Nature’s Valley Cinnamon Granola bar.

Delicious!

 

 

 

 

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