zuccini bread

This rainy weather's put me in a sad mood since I can't go out and play. But thankfully there's my mom's oven and a bunch of other stuff in our kitchen to keep me preoccupied.. Thankfully, my first attempt at zuccini bread turned out nicely!

I suggest you chop the zuccini using a processor, especially if you're impatient like me. I only used 2 zuccini's in my batter.

A part of me regrets leaving out the walnuts, and perhaps I shouldn't have chopped the zuccini so finely. People who tried it said they couldn't taste the zuccini that much, which was kind of a disappointment since I added a little more than what the recipe called for. Nevertheless, the bread wasn't too dry and it proved itself when I consumed it with tea :)

Mom's Zuccini Bread from Allrecipes.com

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 1/4 cups white sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Home for the Holidays: Carrot Cake

It's been a busy semester and since I have no access to a kitchen over the school year, this blog has been sorely neglected. But now that I have a month free from homework, exams, and projects, I can get back into baking! Carrot cake has always been a family favorite and isn't overwhelmingly sweet like chocolate, so it was nice to serve something lighter than usual, even if it probably wasn't any healthier as far as sweets go.

I used a recipe from About.com and it turned out beautifully!

2 cups baby shredded carrots

1 cup oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

8 oz. crushed pineapple

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Shred baby carrots (this takes some time, but is well worth it).

In large bowl, combine oil, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs and beat well. Stir in half of the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.

Add carrots and pineapple and beat well. Then beat in remaining flour. Stir in 1/2 cup walnuts and mix well. Pour into 13x9" pan and spread evenly. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-55 minutes until dark golden brown and cake springs back when lightly touched in center.

Since I baked two 9" round cakes, it only took about 20 minutes for it to be fully cooked through (my mom's oven is stronger than most). Be careful when setting a time and keep checking every now and then!

The cream cheese frosting was so simple, and since I was getting impatient I put it on the cake before it fully cooled. It melted a little, but I didn't mind.

8 oz. packaged cream cheese, cooled

6 tbsp. butter, cooled

2 cups powdered sugar

dash salt

2-4 tbsp. light cream

1 tsp. vanilla

The original recipe called for 3 cups of sugar, but I wanted this frosting to be both cream-cheesy and sweet. I added sugar and tasted every now and then until I thought it was good enough, which I estimate to be about 2 cups.

Parth used this recipe to make his parents an Anniversary cake! Isn't that sweet?

pb cookies & Karthik's birthday pie

Yesterday, Rosie wanted to bake peanut butter cookies! We cheated and used a box mix :)

I missed Karthik's birthday, so I decided to make him Banberry pie! This recipe didn't ask for anything too difficult, and if you click here you can see that most of it required store-bought ingredients. And even though I wouldn't have used this recipe when I was in my "from scratch only" phase, I got inspired by Sandra Lee's show Semi-Homemade Cooking on Food Network. She uses store-bought ingredients to create her own recipes and it's legit. :)

Rosie making peanut butter cookies.

We put semi-sweet chocolate chips into them, too.

For the pie, I whipped store-bought vanilla pudding mix with cold milk.

We lined the bottom of a graham-cracker crust with bananas.

After pouring the pudding on top and letting it settle in the fridge for about an hour, we garnished the top with strawberries.

Then we added strawberry glaze.

I realized that store bought whipped cream is actually cheaper than heavy cream which I would always have to sugar and whip myself.

(He said he liked it! Successss!!) Happy 19th Karth!

Edible Eagles: 4th of July!

I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I haven't had much time since I started chem class class two weeks ago. Since it was a three-day weekend for everyone (4-day for me) I decided to create something special for Independence Day! I found this recipe for marshmallow edible eagles on noblepig. Making these was sooo simple, I was able to make around 30 eagles and served it at my family party!

With the help of my seester! :)

The original recipe calls for pre-made chocolate cookies for the base of the eagle, but since we had Oreos laying around the house we decided to hand-dip them in semi-sweet chocolate! Then we dipped the marshmallows in melted white chocolate!

Cover in coconut!

I thought the coconut portrayed feathers really well.

Cashews for the beaks...

My little cousins enjoyed eating these, although the adults were a little intimidated by the sweetness factor. If you're opting for a healthier dessert, these probably shouldn't be your top choice. But if you're looking for chocolatey-coconuty-sweet treats, these are your best option. And I gave them plus points for being cute. :)

Father's Day: Brownie Bottom Ice Cream Cupcakes

For Father's Day, I decided to make Brownie Bottom Ice Cream Cupcakes as seen from Joy the Baker. The tricky part about this recipe is how quickly you have to work to avoid ice cream melting or the ganache hardening prematurely. I bought standard brownie mix (out of laziness)

I used semi sweet chocolate for the ganache!

I now realize why making whipped cream by hand failed the first time I tried...I hadn't whipped it long enough! This time I stood by the mixer for over 3 minutes to make it thick and fluffy.

Whipped cream, cherry and caramel syrup to top it off! (I tried really hard to decorate it better than Joy the Baker did because my poor cupcakes looked deflated without it all!)

Happy Father's Day!

Blondies

I wasn't having a great day, so I decided to bake some comfort food. Baking has always been therapeutic to me, so it wasn't a surprise that I felt much better after having made and tasted these in-between-cookie-and-brownie bars called Blondies.

I adapted this recipe from smitten kitchen again. I don't think I'll ever get tired of her. And if you're looking for a dessert recipe that's not too sweet, she's you're best bet!

My favorite part about this recipe is how versatile it is. I chose to add chopped pecans and chocolate chips, but you can add anything from espresso powder to dried fruit to mashed bananas to customize this recipe to your liking. Deb calls her Blondies "infinitely adaptable".