Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Name: Brown Butter Frosted Applesauce Spice Cake
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 2 cups (280g) allpurpose flour; 2 cups (390g) sugar; 1 1/2 cups (325g) unsweetened applesauce; 1/2 cup (120g) butter softened; 2 large free range eggs; 1 1/2 tsp soda; 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp ground allspice; 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg; 3/4 cup (115g) raisins; 1/2 cup (60g) chopped toasted walnuts; 1/3 cup (75g) butter; 3 cups (390g) sifted icing sugar; 1 1/2 tsp vanilla; 2 to 3 TBS milk; 2 TBS chopped toasted walnuts (to garnish)

Monday, 30 November 2020

I wanted to make something special for my brother-in-law Dan at the weekend. Weekends have always been the time for special somethings in my home. Special breakfasts, special dinners, treats and what-not.

Dan is such a great guy. He's always been really good to my sister and he treated my mom like Gold. She loved Dan. My dad also thinks the world of him. He deserved a weekend treat and so I made him Blueberry Buttermilk pancakes! And why not!

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Brown Butter Frosted Applesauce Spice Cake

Saturday, 28 November 2020

I wanted to bake us all a cake to enjoy this weekend. Something homey and comforting. Something familiar. I have a great recipe for an Applesauce Spice cake in my Big Blue Binder, but it is packed somewhere in one of my boxes.

I can't even begin to fathom which one at the moment. I decided to look for one online to use. I found what looked like a delicious one on the Land O Lakes site. It didn't use shortening either, so I decided to make it.

It makes a lovely big cake. I baked it in my sister's 9 by 13 inch pyrex dish. She didn't have a metal pan that size. Beggars can't be choosers!

It was a really easy cake to make as well. You just put everything into the bowl of your mixer and beat away until its all smooth! Make sure your butter is really soft however, or it won't beat in well.

You also don't beat in the raisins and nuts. You stir them in at the end. That way they stay a nice size. It bakes really quickly as well.

Not much more than half an hour. I used storebought unsweetened applesauce, but you could also use homemade applesauce. I would not use sweetened applesauce.

There is 2 cups of sugar in the cake batter which is plenty. Then there is the frosting. You don't want to overdo the sugar by using a sweetened applesauce on top of it all.

I amped up the spices as we like things like this to be a bit spicier. I used 2 tsp of cinnamon instead of 1 1/2. I also added nutmeg to mine. I love the flavour of nutmeg with apples.

I think a pinch of cloves would also go very nicely. You don't need a lot. Just a pinch. Cloves can be very overpowering, but again, they go with apple very well.

Someone on the Land O Lakes site had adde Chai Tea Spice. That sounds interesting.

I also added a bit more in the way of raisins. We love raisins in everything. Which reminds me. I need to bake a raisin pie one day for my dad. He would love that.

I need to be careful however as we are both diabetics, and my sister is on the edge. Raisin pie might tip us all over the top. But boyo boyo . . . its a real favourite! Maybe for Christmas.

The Browned Butter Frosting for this is really nice! I do so love Browned Butter. Just the smell of it makes my taste buds tingle.

I am a big late coming to the Browned Butter table. I know it was quite a fad a few years back. I just never caught on to it until recently. I can't remember what I used it in, but I was converted as soon as I did.

It adds a wonderfully nutty flavour to things and it isn't really that hard to make. You only need to heat butter slowly over a medium heat until it turns a golden colour.

Don't be in a rush or it will burn. I have found also that you need to remove it from the heat immediately as soon as it starts to turn or it will burn as well. It is a matter of seconds between perfect and burnt.

But again, well worth the effort. Really well worth the effort. This frosting is to die for, and goes so very well with that moist and spicy cake.

I used walnuts instead of pecans. My father loves walnuts. So do I. Again, I always toast my nuts. It doesn't take long. Only about 10 minutes in a hot oven. Let them cool before you use them.

One thing I am really struggling with at the moment is proper lighting. It is all a matter of timing. I was just on the edge today. I will get it right eventually!

Or I will look for a light box. We will have to wait and see. I think in the warmer months it won't be so much of a problem as we have lighter days.

I couldn't help myself. Once I had cut a piece to take a photograph, I needed to eat it. LOL I am so naughty I know.

I have to tell you it is really good. REALLY REALLY GOOD!

Do not stint on the raisins or the nuts. They really add something special to the mix. You could also use golden raisins if you wanted to. I suppose if you don't like raisins you could use cranberries as well, but its all a matter of taste.

I like it with raisins. I am an old fashioned kind of a gal and raisins do it for me.

When you are thinking of a Home-Sweet-Home kind of a cake, what immediately comes to mind? With me it is always Applesauce Cake or Carrot Cake. Oh my mom did so love a nice Carrot Cake. I think it was her favourite kind of cake.

If you are looking for a nice and moist, homey kind of cake to bake this weekend, you can't get much better than this one!

Brown Butter Frosted Applesauce Spice Cake

Yield: 15

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 5 Mincook time: 35 Mintotal time: 40 Min

Quick, easy and beautifully spiced, this moist cake has a browned butter frosting that really adds a special touch!

Ingredients

For the Cake:

2 cups (280g) allpurpose flour
2 cups (390g) sugar
1 1/2 cups (325g) unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup (120g) butter softened
2 large free range eggs
1 1/2 tsp soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 cup (115g) raisins
1/2 cup (60g) chopped toasted walnuts

For the Browned Butter Frosting:

1/3 cup (75g) butter
3 cups (390g) sifted icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 to 3 TBS milk
2 TBS chopped toasted walnuts (to garnish)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 189*C/350*F/gas mark 4. Butter a 9 by 13 inch baking dish or tin really well. Set aside.
Measure all of the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat together until smooth, with the exception of the raisins and nuts. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Stir in the raisins and nuts. Scrape into the prepared baking dish. Smooth over the top.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown, risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. The cake will have begun to pull away from the sides of the pan slightly. Cook completely before making the icing.
To make the icing heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, cooking and stirring until the buttter just starts to turn golden. Stir constantly. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.
To make the icing combine the browned butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Beat at medium speed,adding the milk gradually and scraping the bowl, until the frosting is smooth and spreadable. Spread onto the cooled cake and sprinkle the toasted nuts over top. Serve cut into squares.

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Sweet & Salty Chocolate Chip Cookies

Friday, 27 November 2020

Let the 2020 Cookie Fest begin with Sweet & Salty Chocolate Chip Cookies! This is the time of year lots of people will be baking cookies for the upcoming holidays and as gifts for friends and neighbours.

These fabulously tasty cookies will be a most welcome addition to your holiday baking, or even as a delicious every day cookie to be enjoyed by the family. For the children after school, or even to be enjoyed all on your own with a nice hot cuppa!

It is an incredibly moreish cookie with just the right combination of salty and sweet. Crisp edged and stuffed with crunchy potato chips, broken pretzels, chewy coconut, wholesome oats and ooey gooey chocolate chips.

It is also a small batch recipe, making only 10 beautiful cookies. This is perfect for the smaller family or for those of you who don't want a whole lot of temptation hanging around the house! (Me on both counts!)

When my children were growing up, I always tried to have some fresh cookies or a freshly baked snacking cake waiting for them when they got home from school. Yes, they were rather spoiled.

My mom hardly ever baked. She was a working mother from when I was 11 years old. If we had baking in the house, other than the holidays, we had to bake it ourselves.

There were tons of home-baked treats at Christmas. The rest of the year, for the most part, our treats came from a box. Yes, we ate and enjoyed boxed cookies.

Even they were counted and regulated. My mother had been overweight when she was growing up and so she was very careful about what we, as children, put into our mouths. Over-indulgences were not encouraged at all.

I will put my hand up and admit to having next-to-no willpower when it comes to baked goodies. Or potato chips. That is why more and more I am small-batching things.

When I have less of these things in the house. I am not tempted as much. There is far less for me to indulge in. I also only buy small serving bags of potato chips, etc. Again. Portion controlled and an occasional treat.

You only have to look at me to recognise that I am not suceeding. LOL Yes, I am a real butterball of a woman. I think at the age of 65 I have given up the idea that I will ever be thin again.

All I want to be now is happy and reasonably healthy. Baking in smaller batches helps me to do just that!

I could not resist breaking one of these open not too long after I took them from the oven. Just look at that lush chocolate chip ooze! Lovely Jubbly!

They are the perfect contrast of salty and sweet. I love that there are only small bits of this and that in them.

Small bits of salty pretzels and salty potato chips. I do love the sweet and salty combination. It is one of my favourite things.

I don't think these cookied could get any better actually. I would have liked to add some sticky raisins to them, but wasn't sure how that would go down with the rest of the household.

I do think however, that a handful of raisins would go very nicely. Or dried cranberries. Any dried fruit really.

The original recipe was adapted from a book by Mary Younkin entitled The Weeknight Dessert Cookbook. They were meant to be baked in two five inch glass pie dishes, for about 11 to 13 minutes a piece.

If you have the dishes, by all means try them that way. You can also bake them in four (1/2 cup/4 ounce) ramekins if you wish. They might not take as long to bake. She suggests 7 to 9 minutes.

She also says they can be baked in one 8-inch skillet. 12 to 16 minutes timing on that one.

Skillet, pie dish ramekins or dropped, these are one very delicious cookie. Every mouthful brings you a lush surprise and combination of flavours and textures.

I do so like surprises don't you? The potato chips and pretzels stay surprisingly crunchy as well. I loved that.

I always like to toast my nuts before baking with them. It helps to enhance their nuttiness.

Just pop them onto a baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes in a hot oven. Make sure you let them cool before you use them! You are sure to love them toasted!

I have been playing with different areas of the house to take photographs. South facing windows are usually best. In Chester I used to take my photos on the dining room table which had excellent light.

Here I may have to resort to buying a light box.

These were taken on top of a stool in front of the living room window. Not ideal, but it was rather a dull day and a bit later in the day than I usually like to take my pictures.

I will get the hang of it eventually. I promise.

I am very cognisant of the fact that we eat first with our eyes and then our stomaches. I need to get this right.

It really is an art form. I am very much an amateur. I only ever want the food to be the star in my posts, and it is hard to showcase things to their best in poor lighting.

I also like to present things as close to natural as possible. I hate highly edited, colour enhanced food photographs. I want reality. I hope you do too.

In any case you need to bake these cookies! They are excellent!!

Sweet & Salty Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: Makes 10

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 8 Mincook time: 12 Mintotal time: 20 Min

A moreish cookie with the right combination of salty and sweet. Crisp edged and stuffed with crunchy potato chips, broken pretzels, chewy coconut, wholesome oats and ooey chocolate chips. Betcha can't eat just one!