Poppy Seed Bread

    I really don't know why I have not put this recipe on my blog yet. This is my all time favorite bread. Ever. In all the evers. You can have this bread for all the meals of the day, (even elevenses!). There has been more than one occasion where I have made this bread in the morning, ate a piece (or two) fresh from the oven, packed it for my lunch for work, and then had it for my light dinner after coming home from work. Yes, I may have a problem. But it's a delicious problem, so just shush.

   Quick note: this bread can be made with almond milk for a still amazingly yummy, but slightly less sweet flavor.
 
   My mom used to make this bread for my siblings and I when we were growing up, and I used to hate having to share because it was so tasty. Now that I'm an adult and one of my most favorite things to do is to share food that I make, I love this recipe because 1 batch makes two loaves. So I always keep one loaf for myself and share the other. It's really almost too perfect.

  So, without further ado, I give you the recipe for the most awesome bread ever.

Poppy Seed Bread (makes 2 loaves)

3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbs poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup milk or almond milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp butter extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix until well combined.
Pour into 2 well-greased standard size loaf pans and bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan before removing. Cool completely before slicing.


Devour voraciously and with wild abandon. Or sit down and calmly eat a slice. Whatever.

Diary & Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies shouldn't work. No flour? No butter? There is only peanut butter, sugar and an egg? Seriously? They just shouldn't work. But oh boy, do they ever! They have become my new favorite cookie for several reasons, the most important of which is how completely and utterly delicious they are. The second is they are so incredibly easy. About 3x easier than cookies with flour and butter, actually.

I got this recipe from Leanne Bakes. There isn't a terribly huge amount I can say about these cookies, except for they are incredibly simple and way too delicious.

Something I will mention is I used Enjoy Life dairy free mini chocolate chips, and 1 1/2 cups was way too much for a single batch, so I had to double the "dough" to even out the ratio of chips to dough. But that just meant more cookies, so I wasn't complaining. But if you want just a single batch of cookies, and if you are using the same type of chocolate chip, only use about 3/4 of a cup.

Enjoy!

Dairy and Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dairy free chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheet with parchment paper, or a baking mats.

Mix all ingredients until well combined.

Shape into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheets. Flatten with a fork.

Bake for 10-13 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

Consume with reckless abandon. Waiting until they are cool is purely optional, and not recommended.

German Chocolate Cake

Here is an interesting tidbit of information for you: German Chocolate Cake has absolutely nothing to do with Germany. Having lived in Germany and completely fallen in love with the country, its people, its history, and its food, I was a little disappointed that this recipe was not yet another delicious German recipe. Instead, however, this cake was originally called German's Chocolate Cake, after American Sam German, who developed a brand of dark baking chocolate for America's Baker's Chocolate Company. The product, Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate, was named in honor of him.

History of origin aside, this cake is unbelievably rich and tasty. Rich because it uses both baking cocoa and dark chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 72% cocoa dark chocolate bar) and because it uses a total of 1 whole pound of butter. So, no, this cake is not exactly cheap to make. It is very much a special occasion cake. Every weekend is a special occasion, right?
One thing that I really love about German Chocolate Cake, besides the epic yumminess, is the very unique flavor it has because of the 1 cup of strong brewed coffee that goes into the cake batter after being mixed with 1 cup of buttermilk. The hint of coffee goes so tremendously well with the dark chocolate flavor of the cake.
Then, of course, you have the caramel pecan coconut frosting, which, well, I don't really need to expound on that, do I? I didn't think so.
Now, just a warning, if you either do not have a sweet tooth, or have just a minor one, don't waste your time baking this cake, because you won't be able to enjoy it. I have a gigantic sweet tooth, and can eat absurdly rich desserts with no problem. I took 3 bites of this cake and felt like I wanted to lie down and not get up again for a couple days...it was amazing. Wanting to sink into a coma of happiness is how you know a recipe is worth making again. This is without a doubt the most decadent cake I've ever eaten or made.
It was quite a bit of work and mess, I won't lie, but it is most certainly worth all the hassle. If you serve this at a party, you will have all the sugar and chocolate junkies worshiping at your feet.
So make it. Unless, of course, you don't want chocolate and sugar junkies worshiping at your feet..then make something like...meatloaf, or whatever....

I got this recipe from Shared Sugar.

German Chocolate Cake

cake adapted from Baked, filling adapted from Baker’s

makes one 8-inch 3 layer cake

Ingredients

4 ounces dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used Ghirardelli's 72% cocoa chocolate bar)
2-1/4 cups unbleached cake flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 ounces) strong, hot coffee
1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups pure cane sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Filling:

4 egg yolks
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup pure cane sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 seven ounce package (about 2-2/3 cups) sweetened coconut
1-1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted
Pecan halves for garnish

Directions

Cake layers:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line three 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Butter pans and dust with cocoa powder (instead of flour which leaves white splotches on the chocolate layers), shaking off the excess.
In a double boiler, melt dark chocolate. Remove from heat and cool. Quicken this step by cooling chocolate in the refrigerator.
In a medium bowl, sift the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together coffee and buttermilk.
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, about three minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping sides of bowl down after each addition. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the coffee/buttermilk mixture. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Remove the bowl from the mixer and using a spatula, fold in the melted chocolate.
Divide the batter evenly between the three pans. Batter should fill pans about half to two-thirds of the way full. Smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer cakes to a wire cooling rack for 20-30 minutes. Invert cakes onto rack and remove pans and parchment to let cool completely.


Filling:

In a large saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, evaporated milk and vanilla until well blended. Add sugars and butter and cook over medium heat, stirring often, for 12 minutes, until mixture is thickened. Remove from heat. Mix in coconut and pecans. Cool to room temperature.


Assembly:

Trim tops of cakes to level out surface, if necessary. Place first cake layer on platter or cake stand. Spread one third of filling on top. Add second layer and spread another third of filling on top. Follow with final layer and top with remaining filling.

Cast Iron Skillet Pineapple Upside Down Cake

This is my new favorite cake. Have I mentioned how much I love fruit? Well, in case you forgot, I really can't get enough of delicious fresh fruit. And this cake really has it all: fresh fruit, deliciously moist cake, buttery caramel sauce, and rum. Like I said, new favorite cake.

And this recipe is surprisingly easy, for how complicated it looks. It's as simple as heating the butter, brown sugar and rum in a cast iron skillet until bubbly, layering the pineapple in the caramel, then dumping the batter over top of the pineapple and sticking it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Inverting the cake wasn't really even that difficult, though the idea flipping a cake out of a hot cast iron skillet was a little intimidating! I'm really happy with how this cake turned out, and I'll probably make another one within the next couple days to share with more friends than I got too this time and also since I have a crap load of pineapple to use up. It was also a huge hit with the friends which I got to share this with, so I'm going to always keep this cake in mind when baking for gatherings.
I really encourage you to try making this cake, it's easy, it's delicious, and it looks like it was horribly tricky to make, which apparently impresses non-bakers ;), so it's really an all around win-win situation for everybody involved! Enjoy!!

Cast Iron Skillet Pineapple Upside Down Cake (adapted from Bijouxs)
Serves 6-8

1/3 cup (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 tsps rum of your choosing (I used Blackheart Spiced Rum)
7-8 slices of fresh pineapple, cut into 1/8" wedge slices
Maraschino cherries as desired
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 350°. Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast-iron or heavy ovenproof skillet. Add the brown sugar and rum and cook over a medium-low heat, stirring until the mixture is smooth and the sugar is completely dissolved, thick and bubbling. Remove from the heat and arrange the pineapple slices  in a concentric circle patter until the pan is covered. Place maraschino cherries as desired.

In a large mixing bowl or work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the shortening and sugar until well mixed. Add the vanilla and the egg and beat well until the mixture is creamy and well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and add to the shortening mixture, combining well. Add the milk and mix until the batter is creamy and smooth.

Spread the batter evenly over the pineapple topping, gently spread to edges without disturbing the pineapple slices. Place the skillet on a baking sheet and bake in a 350° oven about 30 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown.

Remove the cake from the oven and cool for 10 –15 minutes. Cover the skillet with a large plate and carefully invert the cake on to the plate, keeping the plate and skillet tightly pressed together as you invert the cake. Replace any pineapple slices that may stick to the pan onto the top of the cake. Serve warm or room temperature with freshly whipped cream, if desired.