Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Adapted from http://www.smittenkitchen.com/

I saw this recipe and swore I heard angels singing.... For those of you that don't know, I am a huge fan of both chocolate and red wine. Most of the time when you're cooking with alcohol you can't really taste it in the final product. This cake TASTED like wine! It was a very dense cake that was very easy to make, a one bowl recipe (that's always nice!). I will definitely be making this again, next time picking up mascarpone so that I can make the topping!

INGREDIENTS

CAKE
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
3/4 cup red wine, any kind you like
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

TOPPING (I did not make, but it sounds awesome!)
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup chilled heavy or whipping cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment, and either butter and lightly flour the parchment and exposed sides of the pan, or spray the interior with a nonstick spray. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth.
Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and yolk and beat well, then the red wine and vanilla. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together, right over your wet ingredients. Mix until 3/4 combined, then fold the rest together with a rubber spatula. Spread batter in prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. The top of the cake should be shiny and smooth, like a puddle of chocolate. Cool in pan on a rack for about 10 minutes, then flip out of pan and cool the rest of the way on a cooling rack. This cake keeps well at room temperature or in the fridge. It looks pretty dusted with powdered sugar.
Make the topping: Whip mascarpone, cream, sugar and vanilla together until soft peaks form — don’t overwhip. Dollop generously on each slice of cake. It can also be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 hours.

Pear Bread

Wow, I've really been seriously slacking on updating this blog! I have a considerable amount of recipes to post from the past few months. Hopefully I'll get a few done today. Here is a pear bread - courtesy of our "Free Fruit Tuesdays" at work. For some reason, there was a lot of fruit leftover at the end of the day (after I took my normal share!). I never grab a pear, but remembered wanting to try this recipe. So I grabbed a couple and got to baking over the weekend! Perfect for the start of fall. :)

Adapted from: www. bakeorbreak.com

INGREDIENTS
(I used half of the ingredients listed below and made one loaf, below yields 2 loaves)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans (original recipe uses walnuts)
3/4 cup butter, softened (may substitute 3/4 cup vegetable oil)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups peeled and finely grated ripe, firm pears
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or two 9″x 5″loaf pans.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Scoop out about 1/4 cup of this mixture and combine it with nuts to coat. Stir back into the flour mixture.
In a separate bowl, combine butter, eggs, sugar, pears, and vanilla. Add the pear mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until flour disappears and batter is evenly moistened.
Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until bread is browned and firm on top. A pick inserted into the center should come out clean.
Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then, remove from pan and place top side up on a plate or wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Blueberry Peanut Butter Cookies

If that isn't enough flavors for you, I don't know what is! I saw this unique recipe and just had to try it. And yes, I know they look kind of gross but in fact they were actually quite good. Definitely interesting, but pretty good. So, if you're looking to bring something that I'm sure no one has tried before, I'd go with these!

Adapted from: http://www.keepitsweetblog.com/

INGREDIENTS (Yields 3 dozen cookies)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ cups salted creamy natural peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 ¼ cup blueberries

DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda, set aside.
Using a mixer, in a large bowl beat peanut butter and sugars on high until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined.
Reduce speed to low and stir in flour mixture just until combined.
Stir in blueberries and chocolate chunks.
Use a cookie dough scoop or tablespoon to place cookie dough balls (about 2 TB each) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (Note: the dough will be greasy, that is OK)
Bake for 11-13 minutes until cookies are brown around the edges.

Apple Cinnamon Cake with Whole Wheat

Ok, I know this cake looks awful, but it was actually fantastic. This is what I get for waiting to take a picture until the cake was practically demolished. I made this for my dad's birthday. I had looked for a relatively healthy recipe and since this had fruit, whole wheat flour and not a ton of sugar (I substituted about 1/4 cup with Splenda), I decided to go with it. Delicious... there was hardly any to bring home!

Adapted from: www.muchmorethanahomemaker.blogspot.com

INGREDIENTS
Oats-1 cup, powdered (I put old fashioned oats in a blender)
Whole wheat flour- 3\4 cups
Cinnamon powder- 1tsp
Baking powder- 2tsp
Baking soda- 1 tsp
Butter- 5 tbsp
Sugar- 1 cup
Egg whites- 4
Milk-1\4 cups
Vanilla extract- 1\2 tsp
Apples- 2, peeled and chopped

DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the baking dish with oil and dust with flour. Mix flour, cinnamon powder, baking powder and baking soda together. Beat butter and sugar in a bowl till soft and creamy. Add egg white and mix well.
Add flour in this mixture spoon by spoon. Add milk. Add oats powder, vanilla extract and apples. Transfer the batter in the baking dish (I divided the batter in to two dishes). Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes (If you have the batter in to two dishes , then bake for 30-35 minutes) Remove from oven and let it be in the pan for 7-8 minutes. Take out from the pan and cool on a cooling rack. I also mixed low-fat cool whip with cinnamon to put in between the cakes. Since there was some left over, I added it to the top as well!

Lemon Berry Crumble Bars

These bars were nice to make because they were pretty versatile. Any type of berry could be used (I used raspberry) and I also only made half of the recipe in an 8x8 pan. They were quick and easy and pretty tasty!

Adapted from: http://www.willowbirdbaking.wordpress.com/

INGREDIENTS
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsalted butter
1 egg1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
In a separate, small bowl, beat together the egg, lemon juice, and vanilla. Using a pastry cutter or food processor, cut the butter and egg mixture into the flour to form a crumbly dough. Press half of dough evenly into prepared pan.
In two additional bowls, mix together 1/4 cup sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch. Gently mix blueberries into one bowl and raspberries into the other. Sprinkle berries evenly over pressed dough — I did half the pan with blueberries and half with raspberries, but you could alternate or even mix the berries if you’d rather. Crumble the rest of the dough over top of the berries.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until slightly brown. Cool completely (and even chilling a little helps to ensure they’ll hold together) before cutting into squares.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

These were really good. They had a creamy taste to them, much like strawberry shortcake. :) I rarely bake with strawberries since my sister is allergic to them. It seems I'm baking a lot for family functions so I avoid them at all costs! But I really love strawberries and baked these on a random afternoon with no intention of bringing them to my family's place. It worked out well!

Adapted from: www.buddingbaktress.blogspot.com

INGREDIENTS (Yields 3 dozen cookies)
12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces (2 cups)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
Coarse sugar, for sprinkling over the cookies

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, stir together the strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of the sugar; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon zest and remaining sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips until moist and fragrant.
Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the zest/sugar mixture and whisk to combine. Using a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture until you have coarse crumbs. Add the cream to the bowl and stir until the dough starts to come together, then gently fold in the strawberry mixture.
Use a small cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) to drop dough onto the prepared baking sheet, evenly spaced apart. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown. Transfer the pans to wire racks and let the cookies cool. The cookies are best the day they're made, but can be kept in an airtight container for 1 day.

Chewy Low-fat Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Healthy? Whaaat?! That's right. I'm looking to make healthier desserts (sometimes) since 3 out of 5 in my immediate family are diabetic. I usually feel that if you're going to eat (or bake and eat) dessert, it has to be fantastic and most "healthy" desserts are far from that. Since we were going to my parents' for a Father's Day BBQ (my dad being one of the diabetics..) I figured it was a good time to make something like this. They were REALLY good. Very chewy and bursting with banana flavor. I know, I should actually be getting into low-sugar recipes, but I had to start somewhere! The sugar in this recipe is not actually that high compared to a lot of desserts that I bake.

Adapted from: www.skinnytaste.com

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup mashed ripe banana
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups quick oats

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl with a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars on a medium speed. Add the egg, followed by the mashed banana and vanilla extract.

Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and oatmeal until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 10 - 12 minutes or until cookies are light brown at the edges.

Makes about 30 cookies.