Baked Sunday Mornings: Lemon Pistachio Cornmeal Muffins

After missing a couple Sundays, then having somewhat of a recipe fail last week with the banana fritters, I was happy to see Lemon Pistachio Cornmeal Muffins on the schedule for Baked Sunday Mornings this week.  Why?  Because I had made them right after I got Baked Elements and loved them!  In fact, this rarely happens with baked goods, but I think I may have eaten more of them than my husband. 

I don't always like the grittiness of cornmeal, but I think it works really well in these muffins with the combination of ground-up pistachios in the muffins and the larger chunks of nuts on top.

These muffins are definitely worth a try, especially right now during citrus season.  You can find the recipe here on the Baked Sunday Mornings site and click here to see if the other bakers liked these muffins as much as I did.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Bananas Foster Fritters

Happy Sunday and 2013! After missing the past two Baked Sunday Mornings recipes, I am back with Bananas Foster Fritters. Two weeks ago was shortbread, which I wanted to make, but could not fathom more cookies after Christmas. Then I missed the pots de creme last week because I was sick, not to mention the fact that it was my birthday and cake was essential. (One of my goals for 2013 is to not overdo it on baking and have superfluous treats around.) Here is a photo of the fabulous birthday cake Josh made me. Per my request, it was a peanut butter cake with marshmallow filling and chocolate frosting, and he made the entire thing himself - no help from me at all.

When I told Josh what the recipe for this week was, he said he was wondering why I came back from the grocery store with very ripe bananas (we are generally very good at letting them get overly ripe ourselves, which then “forces” me to make banana bread). The book has notes not to fear frying. Sigh. I’m sorry, but I do. I decided dive into this fearlessly, and unfortunately, had a few issues. The oil had no trouble getting to 375 degrees, but I had a bit of trouble maintaining it, leading the first round I fried to be overdone on the outside and too doughy on the inside. Subsequent batches did turn out better and Josh enjoyed having a doughnutty treat for breakfast today - don’t worry, I skipped the rum dipping sauce.  I know that if I kept practicing, I would be able to master deep-frying, but honestly I am content to enjoy doughnuts and french fries outside my home. 

Please be sure to stop by the Baked Sunday mornings site to see how the rest of the bakers fared. I am looking forward to many more baking adventures with the group this year!

Baked Sunday Mornings: Holiday Spice Cake with Eggnog Buttercream

This week’s Baked Sunday Mornings selection is Holiday Spice Cake with Eggnog Buttercream. I was a little nervous about how I was going to market this one since Josh doesn’t really care for eggnog. Since it didn’t involve a buying a carton of eggnog, I thought maybe I could get away with just calling it a spiced buttercream (and bringing it to my family if he didn’t end up liking it). I ended up telling him what it was, though, and he ended up liking the buttercream, which is good, since due to stormy weather conditions and my family living an hour away, I am not shopping with my mom and sister today as I had planned. :( Josh informed me he would be glued to the TV until 1 PM, but would then go shopping with me once it has been determined if he has won his fantasy football league’s super bowl. I can’t face the holiday crowds alone! 

For those of you who are not in the baking group, the reason the buttercream looks so speckled is because there is cinnamon in nutmeg in it, not because I am an extremely messy froster and got a ton of crumbs in it, though admittedly there are probably a few. I made a half recipe of the cake in six-inch cake pans, and two thirds of the buttercream recipe. I once ran out of frosting when I halved the recipe, so ever since then I always make at least two thirds or even the whole recipe to eliminate potential frustration. I find frosting cakes challenging enough as it is. 

This would be a superb dessert for Christmas dinner: not too fussy and very festive, not to mention delicious. I need to bring a dessert to my extended family’s holiday gathering on Christmas, so this selection was a week early in terms of the baking group schedule. The recipe can be found here on the group website and be sure to check out what the other bakers thought of this cake.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Spicy Brownies

I am not the best about planning ahead with the recipes for Baked Sunday Mornings.  Josh's office had a holiday cookie exchange earlier this week.  After much deliberation, I made these Speculoos Buttons, which were on the cover the December issue of Bon Appetit.  However, after baking this week's Baked Sunday Mornings selection, Spicy Brownies, on Saturday, I realized they would have been a perfectly acceptable treat for the cookie exchange.  The good news, though?  They were both excellent recipes!  I would definitely make the speculoos again (and probably will before the holiday season is over) and we loved the brownies.

I have made the famous Baked Brownies from the first book numerous times, and think they are pretty much my ideal brownie:  fudgy, but not gooey and perfectly proportioned in terms of sugar, butter, and chocolate.  Not to mention they do not have any annoying fussy steps and do not get many dishes dirty.  The spicy version is a fun twist and I am also looking forward to trying the peanut butter variation.  I made a half recipe in an 8x8 pan, which took 25 minutes to bake rather than the 30 recommended for the 9x13 pan.  I also omitted both kinds of ginger that were in the recipe because I am not big on the chocolate/ginger combination.  We had the brownies warm with vanilla ice cream last night, which was fabulous of course.  I do have to say that when I sampled one today, I thought it was even better,  since the spices had a chance to settle.

To see how the rest of the group fared, please visit the Baked Sunday Mornings site, where you will also be able to find the recipe.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Pumpkin Almond Cake with Almond Butter Frosting

I’ve only been baking with the Baked Sunday Mornings Group for a short time, but this week marks the group’s two year anniversary and we’re celebrating with cake - Pumpkin Almond Cake with Almond Butter Frosting.  I made myself wait until October 1 to begin baking with pumpkin and have managed to make a prodigious amount of pumpkin treats in less than two months.  I finished the end of a can of pumpkin with this cake and think it might be a good time to take a break from pumpkin goodies for at least a week or two.  That being said, this is a fantastic cake to end the pumpkin binge with.

I made a half recipe of the cake in a six-inch cake pan, with enough leftover batter for a tester ramekin.  I wasn’t sure about using almond butter in the frosting, probably because I usually buy chunky almond butter (I thought smooth would be better for this recipe so that’s what I bought), and ended up thinking it was wonderful.  I loved that it was a little more salty than the average buttercream.  I had initially thought I might add some almond extract to amp up the almond flavor, which it did not end up needing at all.  I am happy to have found a new kind of frosting I like so much!

I realized that Eloise has not made an appearance since I started blogging again, so this marks the return of Monster Cuisine.  We just got this mat to go below the sink in the kitchen and she thought it was a new pad for her.  You know, since of course we want a food-obsessed Weimaraner as close and comfortable to us as possible while we are cooking!

Anyway, if you would like a delicious cake recipe, head on over to the Baked Sunday Mornings site.  You can also see if the other bakers enjoyed it as much as I did by viewing the bakers’ links.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Baked Cheese Grits

I missed Baked Sunday Mornings last week because we were busy painting the upstairs of our house and packing things up, which allowed for little recreational time over the weekend. (Also, the recipe was very coconut-heavy, so I knew my husband wouldn’t it eat it and that definitely decreased my motivation to fit it in.) We have entered the stage of the home improvement project that we are not doing ourselves. I optimistically thought that it would be completed in the two day estimate we were provided with, and that as of Saturday evening, we would be putting the house back together and preparing for Thanksgiving. Clearly I am new to home renovations projects (I mean, other than the many hours of HGTV I’ve watched) because after two days, the project is only about a quarter completed, most of our possessions (including a lot of our furniture) are packed away, we can only use about half of our house, and I am taking photos from my iPhone. Luckily, at the moment, the useable half of the house does include the kitchen and I was able to make this Sunday’s selection, Baked Cheese Grits. 

I remember seeing grits mentioned in books occasionally when I was a kid and just assuming they were something with an unpleasant gritty texture. As a Californian, they are definitely not regular part of my diet or even on restaurant menus all that often (at least at places where I eat). I do make this recipe for Buttery Polenta with Parmesan and Olive Oil Fried Eggs on a regular basis for dinner during the cold months, which can also be made with grits. I made the cheese grits exactly as instructed in the book, and instead of having it for breakfast today, I plan to reheat it and serve it with fried eggs and greens per my usual polenta recipe later in the week. After coming home to a chaotic house, it will be nice to have dinner over halfway done some weeknight. And I keep reminding myself that it’s just a few days of living in dishevelment and that our home will be beautiful forever. 

To get the recipe for Baked Cheese Grits and to see how the rest of the group fared, head on over to the Baked Sunday Mornings site.

Baked Sunday Mornings: Buttermilk Pie (with a a hint of Maple Syrup)

This week the Baked Sunday Mornings group made Buttermilk Pie (with a hint of Maple Syrup). I was not familiar with buttermilk pies until a couple years back when I made a lemon buttermilk pie with another baking group. Custardy pies are not usually a favorite around here, but we enjoyed the buttermilk pie before, so I was looking forward to this one. Even so, I decided that it might be good to scale it back in size, as pies do lose their appeal after a few days and there are just two of us. During previous holiday seasons – and seriously, I guess it is that time – Crate and Barrel sold some cute six-inch ceramic pie plates. I went in search of them, but they do not seem to be available this year. Luckily I happened upon one at a different store, making it easy to cut the recipe in half. And yes, I am acutely aware, particularly this week, that I am fortunate that these are the types of “problems” I have. 

This was my first time making the pie dough from any of the Baked books. I usually make it by hand rather than in the processor and the processor made this dough appear smoother than my dough generally looks (I just hope it wasn’t overworked). I have yet to actually try the pie, so I have yet to assess if it turned out. I did make a little tester ramekin of the filling and loved it. I think this pie would be wonderful with any kind of fruit, from berries to spiced baked pears. 

The recipe notes do acknowledge that this pie is not very pretty and I have to say I found it hard to photograph, as there is not much contrast. To see how the other bakers’ pies turned out, please visit the Baked Sunday Mornings site.