Category Archive: Dessert

Pumpkin Doughnuts with Cinnamon Glaze

Categories:

Breakfast,
Dessert

October 22, 2011

Fall is here, and it’s pumpkin season why not another pumpkin recipe. Donuts is a weakness of mine, I usually don’t buy them, because I can eat half a dozen on my own. I prefer the yeast donuts more than cake donuts, that’s why I made these pumpkin cake donuts so I don’t end up gaining 10 pounds J The original recipe didn’t call for a glaze , so I made a cinnamon glaze and I’m glad I did because these donuts are not sweet enough on their own ,at least to my liking .

Ingredients:

Makes 27 small donuts

3 eggs lightly beaten

1 cup sugar

1 cup sour cream

1 scant tsp. baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 nutmeg freshly grated

5 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Oil for frying

For Cinnamon Glaze

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. vanilla extract

3-4 tbsp. milk

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except flour.

Add flour gradually and knead until dough comes together.( dough will be sticky)

Roll dough on a floured surface. And cut using a dough cutter. I don’t have one so I usually use a big cookie cutter and then a smaller one for the middle.

Heat oil to 350°, and fry donuts on both sides until golden.

Let them cool and then dip in glaze. (I usually double glaze my donuts wait few minutes between each dip)

To Make Glaze:

Mix powdered sugar, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract and milk until well mixed.

Source: The Best Farmer’s Wife Cookbook

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Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes

Categories:

Cupcakes,
Dessert

October 19, 2011

by Nadine

October 19, 2011

This recipe was given to my sister from a friend of hers. These pumpkin cupcakes are so moist and delicious. When I make these I usually leave some for me and my husband without any frosting. I frosted some with cream cheese frosting and those where enjoyed by my son. These cupcakes would be perfect for a Halloween Party.

Ingredients

Makes 10 cupcakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup canned pumpkin purée
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush or spray the top of 10 muffin tins with vegetable oil and line them with 10 paper liners.

2. Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin purée, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vegetable oil. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined.

3. Divide the batter among the prepared tins (I use a level 2 1/4-inch ice cream scoop) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Categories:

Cookies,
Dessert

October 9, 2011

by Nadine

October 9, 2011

I made these Cookies for a play date we had yesterday. Although my son was a little bit cranky it is fun to meet other moms and kids every once in a while. These cookies are delicious; it’s the perfect combination of the moistness of the pumpkin with the sweetness of the chocolate. These pumpkin cookies had a cake like texture, I don’t if that’s because I used about 2 tbsp. per cookie that made them thick and cakey or it’s just like that no matter how big or small you make it. The original recipe says the recipe yields 60 cookies, for me since I made them somehow big it yielded about 45 cookies. These would be perfect for a Halloween party or even as a dessert for kids on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice ( recipe to make your own pumpkin spice is below)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 can (15 oz.) 100% Pure Pumpkin ( Pumpkin Puree)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Directions

Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease baking sheets, or line with parchment paper.

Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in pumpkin, eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

To make your own pumpkin spice:

Mix ½ tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. ginger, 1/8 tsp. nutmeg and 1/8 tsp. ground cloves. This makes 1 tsp. of pumpkin spice.

Adapted From VeryBestBaking

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Qatayef or Atayef ( Middle Eastern Cheese Stuffed Pancakes With Sugar Syrup) Recipe قطايف بالجبنة

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August 3, 2011

by Nadine

August 3, 2011

Qatayef are traditional dessert that is usually served during the holy month of Ramadan. They are similar to pancakes but are cooked on one side only and then folded. They are usually stuffed with unsalted cheese, a combination of (walnuts, sugar and cinnamon) or fresh Kashta which is usually made from heating the milk on very low heat for long period of time. Usually Fresh Kashta is sold at Middle Eastern Bakery shops and unfortunately is not found in the states.There are several ways to make home Kashta and it also can be substituted with Ricotta cheese they kind of have similar taste. Here I’ll be posting the Cheese Qatayef , I’ll be making and posting the walnut and Kashta Qatayef late this month. If you never had Qatayef before you will get addicted to this dessert . It is a little bit crusty on the outside with a gooey melted cheese on the inside topped with sugar syrup. I’m actually drooling now . Qatayef can be deep fried or cooked in the oven either way is good but I prefer the oven method.

Ingredients:

Makes about 17 Qatayefs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup Semoline Flour

1 tsp dry yeast

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

3 1/3 cups warm water

6 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

51/2 tbsp butter

Sugar Syrup Recipe follows

Directions:

To make the stuffing:

Soak Cheese in water for at least 4 hours. Changing water every hour. Drain Cheese until no water comes out when pressed. Before stuffing Qatayefs you want to make sure that the cheese has no water in it and it has no trace of salt in it. Now the cheese is ready for stuffing.

To make the Qatayefs:

Combine sugar and yeast in 1 cup warm water. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

Combine the rest of the dry ingredients flour, semolina flour,salt and baking powder.

Add the yeast mixture along with 2 cups of warm water to the dry ingredients. Mix well until all big lumps dissappear , you might want to use and electric mixer.

Let the batter rest for 30 minutes.

Add the remaining 1/3 cup warm water to the batter and mix.Let rest for 10 minutes.

Heat a non stick skillet over medium heat, when the skillet is heated. Use a 1/4 measure cup to scoop batter and pour in heated skillet.

Cook Qatayef until it is dry on the top and golden brown on the bottom.

Repeat until all batter used.Batter makes about 17 Qatayefs.

Let Qatayefs cool completely before stuffing.

Put about 2 -3 Tbsp of the cheese stuffing on one side of the Qatayef don’t let the cheese touch the sides , fold and press the sides together.

To cook Qatayef:

Place the rack of an oven in the middle , Place Qatayefs on a baking sheet , top each Qatayef with 1/2 tbs of butter cut in 2 squares.

Broil for 3 mins on each side.

Top with Sugar syrup and enjoy warm.

If not serving all the Qatayefs at once you can store in refrigerator until ready to be cooked and served.

Qater (Sugar Syrup) Recipe:

Yields about 2 cups

2 Cups sugar

1 cup water

1 tsp fresh lemon jucie

splash of orange blossom water

splash of rose water

Combine all ingredients except lemon juice in a pot over medium heat. Bring to boil and reduce to medium heat. Add the lemon juice and simmer for 10 minutes.

Let the Sugar syrup cool completely before topping Qatayefs.

If you have any remaining Qater you can store it in airtight container for 1 month or even more.

Tips for making sugar syrup: If after the sugar syrup cooled, you found out it is too thick you can add alittle bit of water and warm again on stove top. And if it was too thin put back on heat for couple more minutes.

Qatayef being cooked in skillet

Top of Qatayef

Bottom of the Qatayef

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Brown Sugar Cupcakes With chocolate frosting and Chocolate Candy Recipe

Categories:

August 2, 2011

by Nadine

August 2, 2011

These Cupcakes Rock!!! we all loved these cupcakes , they were gone in 2 days and we are only three in the family. I usually don’t like frosting but in this case it was different , the chocolate frosting along with candy pairs really well with the brown sugar cupcakes. The original recipe calls for malted milk ball candy, but I used Twix candy bars because I thought the caramel and cookie in the Twix candy bar will go really well with the brown sugar cupcakes and I was so right but of course feel free to use your favorite candy on top.

Ingredients:

makes 12 cupcakes

1 stick butter ( 1/2 cup)

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup milk

2 Twix candy bars chopped

For Chocolate frosting:

1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tbsp. butter

about 2 tbsp. boiling water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line standard muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Using electric mixer , cream butter and sugar until fluffy.

Beat in Vanilla.

Add eggs one egg at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift flour and baking powder in a small bowl.

Fold flour mixture into butter mixture alternating with milk starting with flour and ending with flour.

Spoon cupcake mixture in liners up to two thirds full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Transfer cupcakes and let them cool completely.

To make chocolate frosting, Sift powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl.

Beat in butter and add enough water for a smooth spreadable consistency.

Spread Chocolate frosting over cooled cupcakes and top with chopped Twix candy.

Source: Cupcakes & Muffins By Weldon Owen

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Cream Cheese Muffin Recipe

Categories:

June 15, 2011

by Nadine

June 15, 2011

I’m trying to make new things for breakfast since my husband is working night shift these days. One of his favorite kind of muffins is cream cheese muffins. These muffins has a surprise sweet creamy center when you bite into them and the sugary crumbles on top is perfect with this creamy center.

Ingredients:

Makes 12 muffins

3 C flour
1 C sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2/3 C milk
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 large eggs
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 C sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line your muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Mix together the flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

In another bowl stir together milk, oil, and eggs. Combine with the dry ingredients. Stir until just moistened.

Combine cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar. Gently mix half of this mixture into the muffin batter.

Fill muffin tins about 1/2 to 2/3 full with batter. Spoon the remaining cream cheese mixture onto the muffins, with the back of a spoon push the mixture into each muffin.

Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 C butter, softened

Combine ingredients. Sprinkle generously over muffins. Bake 24 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

Source: BakeorBreak

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Dates and Coconut Squares

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June 9, 2011

by Nadine

June 9, 2011

My husband loves these squares, he likes to have it with his coffee in the morning.When I make this recipe it is usually gone in 2 days. This recipe is very simple and quick to make.I don’t add any sugar to the recipe because the sweetness in the dates is enough.

Ingredients:

25 tea biscuits broken into small bite size pieces
1 stick melted butter (cooled)
10 oz pitted dates
1/2 cup coconut flakes divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In food processor, add dates and process until finely diced.
In a mixing bowl ,add the bite size biscuits, dates, butter and 1/4 cup coconut flakes. With your hands combine well, until well combined.
Grease an 8 inch square baking dish ( or a 9x5inch) and spread the mixture while pressing well.
Bake for 10 to 15 mins. ( just before it browns).
Top with the remaining 1/4 coconut flakes.
Let it cool and then place in fridge.
Let it chill before cutting in squares so it doesn’t fall apart.
Store in fridge.

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Eclair Recipe

Categories:

Dessert

May 26, 2011

by Nadine

May 26, 2011

An eclair is a pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with icing.The dough is piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside.It can be filled with pastrycream, custard,whipped cream and chiboust cream. Then it is dipped with chocolate ganache or chocolate fondant icing.The first memory that comes to my mind when I think about eclairs is our school cafeteria, and of course it wasn’t a great memory because they weren’t good eclairs. I think the key to good eclair is in the pastry cream. This recipe has the best tasting pastry cream ever. This is recipe is from the the book Baking by James Peterson, I like this book a lot and plan to make more recipes from it.

Ingredients:

Yields 12 eclairs

1 recipe cream puff pastry dough ( below)

egg wash

2 1/2 pastry cream ( below)

2 cups chocolate Ganache (below)

Pastry Cream:

makes about 2 1/2 cups

2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup plus 1tbs sugar

1 egg

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup cornstarch.

Bring the milk to a simmer in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat and add vanilla.

In a bowl whisk together the sugar, egg, egg yolks, and cornstarch until smooth. When the milk comes to a simmer , stir half of it in the egg mixture. Pour the egg mixture back into the sauce pan containing the rest of the milk, place over medium heat and stir the mixture . When stiring reach the for the sides of the sauce pan so the mixture doesn’t dry on the sides.

When the pastry cream boils and thickens, Transfer to a bowl cover with a plastic wrap touching its surface so a crust doesn’t form on the top. It can be refrigerated up to 4 days.

Cream Puff Pastry Dough: ( Choux)

makes about 1 1/2 lb dough

1 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter sliceded

1 tsp sugar

1 cup flour sifted

4 eggs

1 egg white plus more as needed

Combine water, salt, butter and sugar in a saucepan and bring to simmer over highheat.There is no need to stir. Turn the heat to medium and add the flour all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon for about 3 mins, or until mixture forms a cohesive mass and pulls away from sides of the saucepan. Transfer the mixture to a bowl or to a standup mixer beat with a wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment for 1 minute until slightly cooled.

beat in eggs one at a time until you added four. Check the consistency of the batter by pulling a wooden spoon through the batter, when the groove it makes slowly closes on itself, then you added enough eggs and the mixture is ready to use. If not add egg white at a time until it passes the test. Another way to test the mixture is by holding the spoon sideways and see if it drips( the dough should drip from the spoon and not stick straight out). Another test would be if you are using a stand up mixer the dough should pull away from the paddle attachment in a thick rope.The mixture is best when used immediatly , but it can be refrigerated for several hours and used later.

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

makes 2 3/4 cup to 3 cups

12 oz bitter sweet chocolate

1 2/3 cups heavy cream

Break the chocolate into pieces and process in the food processor until very fine. Heat the cream to the boiling point and while the motor is running pour it through the feed tube in a steady stream. Process few seconds until smooth.

Source: Cake Bible

Directions:

preheat oven to 425 degrees.

fill pastry bag fitted with 1 1/2 inch tip with the pastry dough. Pipe tiny dots on the corners of the parchment sheet and turn over and press to baking pan to hold the sheet in place.

Pipe the 12 strips and brush with egg wash. ( strips should be at least 2 inches apart and about 4 1/2 inches long).depending on your pan size you might use two baking pans.

Turn down the oven to 400 degrees bake eclairs for 20 min until golden brown and puffed. Turn down the heat again to 300 degrees and bake for 25 min until eclairs feel light. If they get too brown turn down oven to 250.let them cool.

Use a 1/3 inch fit to make holes in each end at the bottom of the eclairs. Fill eclairs with pastry cream until filled. Warm chocolate until it reaches consistancy of cold maple syrup. Dip eclairs and turn upward right away to drip any excess chocolate ganache. Let them cool for 30 mins before serving.

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Moist Banana Bars Recipe

Categories:

Cakes,
Dessert

May 17, 2011

by Nadine

May 17, 2011

I had some ripe bananas yesterday, so I thought about making some Banana Bars. After looking at the recipe that called for 2 cups of sugar I knew that will be too much sugar for me . So I went ahead and read about baking formulas and ingredient percentage in cakes before going ahead and reducing the sugar, because I didn’t want to affect the overall cake texture. So I safely removed 1/2 cup of sugar and the recipe till turned out really delicious, moist and tender.

Ingredients

makes a 10×15 baking dish

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar ( original recipe called for 2 cups)

3 eggs

1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Dash salt

Directions

Transfer to a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, bananas and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into creamed mixture just until blended.

Source: Taste of Home

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Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Categories:

May 10, 2011

by Nadine

May 10, 2011

For the last two days my son who is 28 months old been asking for cookies. He really never had cookies before but he was watching some cartoon when they were eating cookies , so it got stuck in his mind. I’m not really a cookie person , I never buy or make them and that’s why he never had them before. So I decided yesterday to make him some cookies.I made this recipe using the big milk chocolate chips, next time I will be using the small size semi sweet chocolate chips.The recipe was easy and quick and they were done in no time. I got this recipe from Martha Stewart. Hope you like them

Ingredients

Yields about 3 dozen small cookies.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes( mine took about 12 mins). Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

I had time to take a pic of every step of the recipe , so for those visual ones out there I’m sure you will like these pictures.